NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Jaylen Brown, Celtics, Marvin Bagley III
This past offseason, plenty of NBA players switched teams via trades. However, there haven't been any huge deals since the 2021-22 season got underway a little more than three weeks ago.
At some point, that's going to change. Trades are a substantial part of the sport, and there are always rumors swirling about potential deals. When will a move take place? And who may be switching teams as a part of it? That's not yet clear, but plenty could happen between now and the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
Here's some of the latest trade buzz from around the NBA.
Celtics Not Interested in Trading Brown
Earlier this week, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that the Boston Celtics had "engaged in conversations" with the Philadelphia 76ers about trading for Ben Simmons. Charania noted that Boston had "expressed interest" in Simmons, while adding that any potential deal would likely require the team to part with Jaylen Brown.
However, there's one problem with that from the Celtics' side: They don't want to part with Brown.
According to Brian Robb of MassLive.com, Boston has "no interest" in trading Brown, especially because he's under team control for the next two seasons on a "below-market deal." In October 2019, Brown signed a four-year, $115 million deal with the Celtics, meaning he won't be a free agent until after the 2023-24 season.
Brown is dealing with a hamstring injury that has him sidelined. But he had gotten off to a strong start prior to that, as he was averaging 25.6 points and 6.1 rebounds over his first eight games.
A former All-Star in his sixth NBA season, the 25-year-old Brown may still be getting better. And if that's the case, he could put up some big numbers when he returns to action and over the final two seasons of his current contract.
If that's the case, then it would likely be wise for Boston to keep Brown on its roster. Is there a way the Celtics could still trade for Simmons without acquiring Brown? It seems unlikely, given the 76ers likely will want a large return, but it will be interesting to see how the situation develops as Simmons continues to sit out.
For now, though, it appears nothing will be changing in Boston or Philadelphia in the near future.
Tension Between Bagley, Kings Potentially Growing?
Marvin Bagley III has played in only one of the Sacramento Kings' first 12 games. However, it seems that he should have played in two, as it seems he was asked to come into their matchup against the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Instead, Bagley "refused" to check into that game, according to Sean Cunningham of ABC10 in Sacramento. Cunningham shared a video on Twitter in which the situation appears to unfold:
It's not a huge surprise that there may be tension between Bagley and the Kings. Before the season started, Bagley's agent Jeff Schwartz, put out a statement sharing his displeasure with Sacramento's decision to not use Bagley in its rotation.
Even though Bagley has barely been playing, the Kings haven't traded the 22-year-old forward. His lone appearance this season came on Oct. 22, when he played 10 minutes and scored two points in a loss to the Utah Jazz.
On Wednesday, Sacramento head coach Luke Walton was asked about the apparent incident with Bagley on the bench. But he didn't divulge any further details.
"Anything that happens within our group, that's between our group, so the thing that matter is people know what's expected and we continue to move forward tonight," Walton said, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.
Bagley again didn't play Wednesday night in the Kings' road loss to the San Antonio Spurs. So perhaps this situation will reach the point that Sacramento changes its mind and opts to trade him.
