Jaylen Brown Was Reportedly Seen as 'Negative Player' by Blazers' Analytics amid NBA Rumors

Despite rumored interest in Jaylen Brown before the Boston Celtics traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers this week, the Portland Trail Blazers were reportedly never high on the idea of acquiring him.

According to Jay King and Sam Amick of The Athletic, Portland did not make a serious run at Brown because the organization's "analytics viewed him as a negative player and the Celtics' asking price was too high."

A Blazers team source told King and Amick, "We were never aggressively looking to trade for him. And particularly not at their price."

It was previously reported by Amick that the Blazers had only "moderate" interest in Brown and offered "nothing close to what the Celtics have been asking for."

Brown was heavily involved in trade rumors for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but even after Giannis was traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat instead, Brown's name remained in trade conversations.

Although there was some thought that the Celtics would be able to smooth things over and keep together a team that had the second-best record in the Eastern Conference last season at 56-26, that ultimately wasn't the case.

Boston shocked the basketball world on Wednesday night by agreeing to send Brown to the Sixers for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

It seemed like a surprisingly modest return for a player of Brown's caliber, as the 29-year-old veteran is a five-time All-Star and two-time NBA selection, plus he was named NBA Finals MVP when the Celtics won a championship in 2024.

With Jayson Tatum missing the vast majority of last season while recovering from a torn Achilles, Brown enjoyed the best statistical campaign of his career.

He averaged a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from three-point range.

As a result, Brown was chosen to the All-NBA Second Team and he finished a career-best sixth in NBA MVP voting.

Given that level of production and his accolades, the notion that the Blazers viewed him as a "negative" player analytically is somewhat unexpected.

King and Amick suggested that the Blazers may not have been alone in their concerns about Brown, though, reporting that the Celtics felt Brown "went off script too often during playoff games," which played a role in Boston blowing a 3-1 series lead against the 76ers and getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Portland surprised many last season by going 42-40 and reaching the playoffs after missing the postseason each of the previous four campaigns.

First-time All-Star Deni Avdija was the driving force behind the Blazers' success, averaging a career-high 24.2 points per game.

There was some thought that the Blazers would make an aggressive move this offseason in order to take the next step, and while that was the case, it did not involve Brown.

Instead, Portland gambled by acquiring supremely talented guard Ja Morant in a trade that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Morant has not played in more than 50 games in any of the past three seasons, but he is a two-time All-Star who put up huge numbers from 2021 to 2024, averaging 26.7 points, 7.5 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game over that three-season stretch.

Trading for Morant comes with plenty of risk, but the price was relatively low, which may have been what ultimately convinced the Blazers to roll the dice.