New Jaylen Brown Trade Rumors Update Celtics Star's Future Amid Giannis, Bucks Buzz

If the Boston Celtics are going to trade Jaylen Brown as part of a potential package for Giannis Antetokounmpo, they aren't operating with any urgency right now.

Per NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Celtics have not yet engaged in "any meaningful" trade conversations involving Brown since their season ended:

"Those same sources likewise insist that the Celtics have yet to engage in any meaningful trade conversation this spring involving Jaylen Brown after Brown's tremendous 2025-26 campaign … but it also hasn't been categorically dismissed as a possibility."

The Celtics' interest in Antetokounmpo may have shifted at some point recently.

On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Bill Simmons explained the Celtics may have been "playing a little possum" and have inserted themselves back into the race for the two-time NBA MVP:

"I thought Boston was out of this. I know Boston was out of this. I was wondering if they were playing possum or not. I think they were playing a little possum. I think they are in on Giannis. I'm not recanting what I said before. I don't know the reasons for it. Maybe they felt like Miami's offer is an offer they could beat. Maybe they want to drive the price of Miami's offer up and don't really have interest in him."

The Celtics and Miami Heat are the most cited potential landing spots for Antetokounmpo, though Miami's ability to pull off a trade could be complicated because of concerns on his end about what the roster might look like after giving up what the Milwaukee Bucks would seek in return.

If the Celtics get involved, Brown would almost certainly have to be the headliner going back to Milwaukee for salary-matching purposes. He is owed $57.1 million next season, while Antetokounmpo will earn $58.5 million.

Brown is coming off the best season of his career after being the Celtics' No. 1 offensive option while Jayson Tatum started the year rehabbing a torn Achilles.

The 29-year-old averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in 71 starts. He finished sixth in MVP voting and made the All-NBA second team.

Boston finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games.

This marked the second consecutive year the Celtics lost in the first two rounds of the playoffs after making it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals in three consecutive years from 2022 to '24.