Report Says Celtics May Package Jaylen Brown in Swap for Nets' Kevin Durant

ESPN stresses the deal is not close to being finalized but that trade talks continue.

Could Jaylen Brown be headed to Brooklyn?

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported this morning that the Boston is discussing a possible trade with the Brooklyn Nets that would send Kevin Durant to the Celtics.

No deal is close to being finalized, according to the story, which included this sentence:

The Celtics appear no closer to acquiring Durant than others in discussions with the Nets, but Boston's ability to include All-Star forward Jaylen Brown as a centerpiece in offers does help make the team formidable in its pursuit, sources said.

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The Boston Globe followed up on the story, noting, “Celtics fans awoke Monday morning to a tantalizing ‘Woj bomb’ from ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.”

The Globe said Wojnarowski’s story was posted on ESPN’s website at 2:28 a.m. ET and on Twitter three minutes later.

Brown, the former one-and-done Cal player, didn’t appear to be taking the news seriously. He suggested he is shaking his head in disbelief.

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But it speaks to Brown’s ascension as an elite NBA player that he is key to a potential trade involving one of the league’s best players.

Brown, 25, averaged 23.6 points this season, helping the Celtics to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. He averaged 23.1 points through 24 postseason games this season, including a 4-0 sweep of Durant and the Nets in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, and had 18 games of at least 20 points, including a 40-point outburst vs. Miami.

*** Cal grad Gary Washburn, who covers the Celtics and NBA for the Boston Globe, isn't convinced Boston should ship away Jaylen Brown.

Wojnarowski stressed that the Celtics are among several teams that have been in “regular contact” with the Nets since Durant announced his desire to be traded on June 30.

The Celtics, he said, are a team “that believes they’re close, that Kevin Durant could put them over the top” in pursuit of an NBA title.

“When you look at individual players that might be available to the Nets in the marketplace, (Brown’s) at the very top,” Woj said.

The Globe reported that Shams Charania of The Athletic wrote that his sources told him Brown was part of a different trade package the Celtics offered the Nets earlier this month that Brooklyn rejected.

This round of trade talks may not go any further than the last one, Wojnarowski said.

There are no deals believed to have traction for Durant, and no team has yet to reach the significant threshold that the Nets have set to trade one of the league's most talented players, sources said. The Nets' posture on a potential trade has been largely unchanged: They want a massive return that potentially includes multiple unprotected first-round picks, pick swaps and impactful players for Durant, sources said.

Jaylen Brown drives on Kevin Durant / Photo by David Butler II, USA Today

Durant is 33 and has averaged 27.2 points over 14 NBA seasons. He won two NBA titles with the Warriors, then signed as a free agent with Brooklyn after the 2019 season.

He averaged 29.9 points this past season, but the Nets’ dreams of an NBA title went nowhere, in part because of point guard Kyrie Irving’s refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccination, which made him ineligible to play home games.

James Harden forced a midseason trade to Philadelphia and last month Durant decided he also wanted out of Brooklyn.

Brown, who played at Cal in 2015-16, has averaged 16.5 points through his first six NBA seasons but has scored more than 20 points per game the past three years. He is an elite athlete, a significantly improved 3-point shooter and a strong defender.

Cover photo of Jaylen Brown and Kevin Durant by Brad Penner, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo