NBA
Jaylen Brown Trade Rumors: Possible Warriors Deal Triggers Celtics Fans
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
All posts by Tim CreanUpdated13 May 2023
The Boston Celtics are heading to Game 7 with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, and win or lose, the team will have some serious decisions to make this offseason. The team is on the verge of having to pay its two young stars, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, over $600 million on their new contracts. This reality has led to a host of Jaylen Brown trade rumors.
It remains to be seen if a Tatum-Brown one-two punch can win an NBA championship. Some, including Colin Cowherd, don’t believe they can, which makes paying them over half a billion dollars a bad idea.
To this end, Cowherd threw out a Jaylen Brown trade rumor that involved the Celtics star heading to the Golden State Warriors, but Boston fans weren’t impressed.
Jaylen Brown trade rumors to the Warriors didn’t go over well
“Win or lose, the Celtics have to make a move,” sports talk host Colin Cowherd opined on The Herd with Colin Cowherd after Boston beat Philadelphia in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to force a Game 7.
His contention is that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t work together because Brown “has more alpha, but Tatum’s the better player.”
The Jaylen Brown trade Cowherd floated is Brown and guard Malcolm Brogdon to the Warriors for Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole.
Cowherd’s thinking is that Wiggins is a push defensively with Brown, and both Wiggins and Poole provide wing scoring, although they aren’t as good as Brown. This definitively makes the Celtics Tatum’s team, and better defensively.
As for the Warriors, they would do the deal because, well, they get the far better player and give up next to nothing.
Cowherd did not mention any draft picks changing hands.
Now, this Jaylen Brown trade rumor is obviously ridiculous unless there were other things from the Warriors to sweeten the pot. However, since Cowherd didn’t mention anything else, Celtics fans on social media predictably lost their collective minds.
One of the most prominent Celtics fans in the country, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, was among the first to express his displeasure with Cowherd’s fake trade.
“This is the worst fake trade I think I’ve ever heard,” Bill Simmons tweeted. “Maybe the Celtics could throw in a couple unprotected firsts to make it even dumber? Come on Cowherd!”
The comments under Simmons’ tweet from Celtics fans echoed his sentiment, with more than a few adding some colorful Boston language to truly drive home their displeasure.
If the Celtics don’t win a title this year, they probably should trade Brown this offseason. The new CBA has changed to punish high-salary teams. And the Celtic's championship window with Tatum and Brown may be closed if they don’t win in 2023.
That said, they shouldn’t (and won’t) at 60 cents on the dollar just to get rid of Brown, which is what Cowherd is proposing.
