If the Celtics really are listening to Jaylen Brown offers, these 3 teams are in prime position to pounce

The Boston Celtics are making moves. Less than two days after the Finals ended, the Celtics have already traded Jrue Holiday to the Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks. That gets them under the second apron, widely considered to be their primary goal for the offseason, but does that mean they’re done?

“Them phone lines are ringing in Boston,” Shams Charania said Tuesday night on ESPN. “My understanding is the Celtics are getting offers and calls on both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. The Celtics have high-price thresholds on both players. We now how great Brown and White are. I’m sure they’re getting massive offers, some big-time calls. Their preference has been to keep both players, but this is a team still in the first apron, a luxury tax team and still dealing with uncertainty of Jayson Tatum’s status next season.”

We don’t really know what to make of the smoke right now, or if we can even call it legitimate smoke, but if Brown is indeed open for bids, here are three teams that could — or perhaps even should, be looking to pounce. 

Houston has at least dipped its toe into the contention waters by trading for Kevin Durant, but adding Brown would be a cannonball splash. Fred VanVleet would have to be included to make the money work, and at this point he is not under contract as the Rockets didn’t pick up his 2025-26 player option with the expectation of signing him to a longer deal at a lower annual rate. 

So let’s say they send VanVleet to Boston at about $30M for next season, then from there you start looking at young players that you’d be willing to part with for a shot at winning it all right now. Boston would have to be interested in Jabari Smith Jr., who is sort of a poor man’s Jaylen Brown with a lot of room to grow, or maybe Cam Whitmore or Tari Eason.

On top of this, Houston still has a ton of draft capital to throw at the Celtics, which, if they were to trade Brown, could fuel what would be a total reset around Jayson Tatum when he returns from his ruptured Achilles tendon, likely in 2026-27. 

For the Rockets, you become an immediate top-shelf contender with Durant, Brown, Alperen Segun and that defense built around Amen Thompson. Yes, you lose some length on your timeline, I suppose, depending on whether you view Smith Jr. as a foundational guy (which I’m not sure the Rockets do) but you basically start a new one around Brown, Sengun and Thompson. 

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If you lose VanVleet you’re suddenly in need of a starting point guard. Chris Paul, anyone? Russell Westbrook? This would have to be figured out, but the Rockets, even after the Durant deal, are one of the few teams that could offer the Celtics a big enough offer without depleting the depth of their current team, or even, to some degree, their future war chest. 

We all love to talk about preserving futures these days, but you never know: For the Rockets, the future might actually be right now. They may never be in a better position to compete for a championship in the dwindling years of Durant’s top-tier production. But again, Durant probably isn’t enough. Not in this deep of a field. But bring in Brown, too? Now you’ve solidified your spot among the league’s upper-most contenders. 

Any team that was considered a Giannis Antetokounmpo suitor should probably be looked at as a possible Brown destination, as well. San Antonio would be a perfect fit. Much like the Rockets trading for Durant, the Spurs have already announced their desire to compete sooner than later by trading for De’Aaron Fox at last February’s deadline. 

Fox and Brown next to Victor Wembanyama is arguably an even better team than the Rockets would be with Brown next to Durant and Sengun. Would San Antonio include Stephon Castle or this year’s No. 2 pick, which will be used on prized point guard prospect Dylan Harper? It’s a long shot, but it shouldn’t be a complete non-starter. 

There are apron issues to consider here, of course. Three max players, once Wembanyama gets paid, will break your bank and San Antonio might be smarter to play the OKC card by keeping as many avenues to cheap labor open as possible in the form of future draft picks. 

Still, as I said with the Rockets, the time to strike might be now. Trade for Brown now, and you still have a long runway in front of you. Brown’s only 28. Fox is 27. Brown has proven to be a championship-level wingman and San Antonio would be ready to compete with anyone with his addition. 

The Spurs have plenty of pieces in which Boston would presumably be highly interested. Castle and the No. 2 pick in Wednesday’s draft are obvious. They also own the No. 14 pick on Wednesday, plus a first-round pick every year between now and 2031. Jeremy Sochan could be included. Devin Vassell and Harrison Barnes make the money work. There are easy paths to a deal. 

Would San Antonio be make a huge bet on Brown? Do they really feel Wembanyama is ready to lead a title contender? If they do, you’d be hard pressed to find a better No. 2 and 3 option that Fox and Brown. 

The Pacers, who were 80-1 to win the title before the playoffs started and came within one win doing do, just rewrote the script for these teams that would generally be perceived as non-contenders. It’s no longer a pipe dream to pull off a Cinderella Finals run, and the Eastern Conference is the place to do it with Indiana, Boston and Milwaukee likely out of contention next season with the respective torn-Achilles recoveries of Haliburton, Tatum and Damian Lillard. 

Why not the Pistons? This is a team that won 44 games to become the first in history to triple its win total total from the previous season. They gave the Knicks all they could handle in the first round and arguably should’ve won that series were it not for a crazy 21-0 run in Game 1 and an admitted blown call at the buzzer in Game 4. Detroit has its All-NBA player in Cade Cunningham, but it’s a committee attack after that. 

With Cunningham and an elite defense in place, Brown would put the Pistons in position to compete with the Knicks and Cavs, and possibly the Magic and Sixers, for at least a conference finals, if not a Finals appearance. That might sound far fetched, but again, look at what the Pacers just did and look at the state of the East. The Pistons are a good team, and Brown would make then really good.

Detroit woudl be more or a sleeper than Houston and San Antonio and might need to get a third team involved as the matching salaries could get complicated, but the bones of a deal could include Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart, Jaden Ivey and maybe as many as three future first rounders. The Pistons own all of their own first-round picks between 2026 and 2031. Detroit wouldn’t want to give up Jalen Duren or Ausar Thompson, but if one of those guys became involved, Boston would have to listen.