The Celtics almost certainly part ways with members of their championship-winning core this offseason.
But they’d need to be bowled over by an offer to consider trading Jaylen Brown or Derrick White, according to a new report from ESPN’s Shams Charania.
During an appearance Thursday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Charania described Boston’s asking price for Brown and White as “pretty insurmountable.”
“I’m sure teams are throwing crazy offers out for guys like Jaylen Brown and Derrick White,” he said. “But it’ll take a pretty insurmountable package to get those guys out of Boston.”
With Jayson Tatum expected to miss at least a significant portion of next season following Achilles surgery, Brown and White are arguably the Celtics’ most valuable trade chips. Brown is a four-time All-Star and the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, White is a two-time All-Defensive selection and the owner of Boston’s single-season franchise record for made 3-pointers, and both are under team control for the next four seasons, including White’s 2028-29 player option.
After seeing the Orlando Magic trade two veteran players, four first-round draft picks and a future pick swap to Memphis this past weekend for Desmond Bane — a solid third option with zero career All-Star nods — the Celtics surely know that Brown or White would fetch an impressive return. Mikal Bridges, another non-star-level player, commanded a similar package last offseason.
But president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Co. seemingly would prefer to retain Brown and White, which would help the Celtics both remain competitive while Tatum recovers and, ideally, return to championship contention once their All-NBA centerpiece returns.
More likely trade candidates for Boston — which must trim roughly $20 million in salary if it hopes to dip below the second apron of the NBA’s luxury tax and avoid the stiff penalties that come with that status — include starting guard Jrue Holiday, No. 1 center Kristaps Porzingis and rotation wing Sam Hauser.
Given Holiday’s age, Porzingis’ durability concerns and Hauser’s bench-player role, those three don’t hold nearly as much trade value as Brown or White. It’s possible the Celtics would even need to attach a draft pick to entice a team to take on Holiday’s or Porzingis’ contract, as both are set to make upward of $30 million in 2025-26.
Boston also has two core rotation players set to hit free agency in big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Both should have suitors this offseason, and it’s unclear whether the Celtics will be able to retain either based on their current financial situation.
“I think the way that you say it is the North Star is to have a championship contender, right?” Stevens said in his end-of-season news conference on May 19. “And so you have to do what’s best to give yourself the best opportunity to do that when you can do that. So we just have to look at it all and decide how feasible that is on any given year and make sure that we’re making the decisions accordingly. But the reality is that we have a lot of good players. We’re in a unique situation. They’re all under contract, and obviously there are several basketball penalties that come with that amount of salary. So we just have to weigh it all and make those decisions, and I’ll have more clarity after we meet and talk and go through it.”
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