According To Shams, Brad Stevens Reportedly Tried To Trade Jaylen Brown All The Way Back At February's Trade Deadline
Sam Hodde. Getty Images.As the days go by, the more reality has started to set in that there will be no escaping the Jaylen Brown trade. At least anytime soon anyway. It's obviously going to be talked about at length during the regular season and every time the Sixers and Celtics play for the rest of Jaylen's Sixers career (this just made me puke in my mouth typing btw, so that's sweet). What I underestimated was Shams that sneaky motherfucker. Even with shit that should have nothing to do with them, like the Warriors' inability to build around Steph Curry and the fact that they're wasting the last few years of his career, Shams still finds a way to bring in the Jaylen Brown angle, which then opens up another whole can of worms for us Celtics fans
"The Warriors could've got in the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes if they wanted to give up 4 first round picks-ish, in that range. They decided not to from my understanding. Those 2 teams, the Warriors and Celtics did talk about a Jaylen Brown trade around the trade deadline and it was around several first round draft picks, potential swaps, and seconds. The Warriors decided not to go down that route and so that's on them. That's the decision they made. If they had went out and got that done, does that make LeBron James more viable? If the Warriors had gone out and been willing to give up several draft capital to go get an Anthony Davis from Washington, does LeBron James follow suit? My understanding was if the Warriors were able to get Anthony Davis, they had as good of a chance, if not better than anyone, to get a LeBron James and I think you have to look at that in the calculus of everything."
Now hold the hell on Shams. Let's take a minute to fully process and understand the claim being made here. The Celtics and Warriors talked about a Jaylen Brown trade at February's trade deadline? That would be February 5th, so let's assume these conversations happened late January-early February.
On January 25th, the Celts were sitting in the 2 seed with a 28-17 record. Given their 8-8 start, this is where their upswing started to happen with a 20-9 stretch. As we got closer to the deadline, they were 33-18. By that time we were thinking about 40/20 being in play, Tatum's potential return, the Celts at that point were one of the surprises of the season.
We're to believe that at that time of the year, with that level of success and Tatum's return on the horizon that Brad Stevens was actively shopping Jaylen Brown during his breakout season? Is that what Shams is telling us?
I absolutely do believe that. In fact, I think that's exactly what Brad did.
We must not forget the largest learning from what has transpired over the last month. Brad Stevens wanted out of the Jaylen Brown business. That's why they were OK with not overpaying for Giannis. It's why they took the Sixers deal once the market showed Jaylen's value given the pending extension he's owed. They were moving off the player regardless, and Jaylen himself pretty much said the same thing.
Remember in his stream when he talked about how he felt like he was getting dealt no matter how the season ended? He wasn't making that up. Whether Brad Stevens was right or wrong to go this route is what we're going to find out, but the main conclusion to take away is that from a basketball standpoint and a financial standpoint, Brad Stevens did not want to move forward with Jaylen Brown. Last season confirmed the approach (posession maxxing), this summer was about upgrading the parts that go into said approach.
Knowing that reality, it makes perfect sense that Brad would be putting feelers out at the trade deadline. Maybe Shams is full of shit in that clip and he's just doing the Shams thing where he throws out popular team/players/buzzwords as part of his "reporting", but I dont think that's the case here. Given what we've seen this summer, I have no reason to think those conversations didn't happen and I have no reason to think Brad wouldn't have flipped Jaylen if he got those 4 1sts from GS. I mean he got traded for Paul George and 2 picks, so to make the money work, you're probably looking at Jimmy Butler's contract and those 4 1sts. Considering Butler's deal expires one full season before George's does, Brad 10000000% makes that deal.
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We also have to remember the end-of-season press conference where Brad went up to the podium and basically called the regular season success fake. He certainly was not shy when it came to talking about their record against the best teams
so while on the surface we were watching a 33-18 team that was 2nd in the East and about to get their superstar back in a month, Brad didn't buy what he was seeing and it certainly didn't change his mind about the Jaylen Brown decision.
This is what I keep harping on when it comes to the connection between last year's success and this eventual trade.
For the Celtics, the success of Jaylen playing as the singular star and high usage player wasn't confirmation that he was a true #1 and provided the right amount of value for his contract. What it really was, was confirmation that in today's NBA, if you can surround your elite #1 option with shooting, high level offensive rebounding, defense, and turnover suppression, you can win the NBA title. The Knicks did it, the 2025 Thunder did it, and the 2024 Celtics did it. All the three champions under this current CBA. The Celtics rebounding, defense, shooting, and turnover suppression in combination with Jaylen's All-NBA-caliber season proved to be successful. That's the formula.
So what did Brad Stevens do this summer?
He added the greatest offensive rebounder in NBA history (fact, not opinion) in Mitchell Robinson. He unloaded one of his biggest turnover-prone players, and he replaced the singular star role with a top 5 player and someone who is more well-rounded as a basketball player. Paul George helps with the shooting and turnover generation, as he's much more active as a defender, and Brad then also increased the role of someone like Payton Pritchard, who is an efficient floor spacer who also never, ever, turns the ball over. It's a very deliberate roster build, and every piece fits the idea of maximizing their possessions.
When you look at it that way, it's Brad Stevens' own actions that pretty much confirm what Shams is saying in that clip. He knew in February what direction this roster was going to have to go to moving forward. What we're about to find out, is if his gamble/plan forward was right.