Key Points
- Boston is asking for at least four first-round picks in Jaylen Brown trade talks, per Shams Charania
- The Pistons and Celtics have discussed a Brown-for-Jalen Duren sign-and-trade framework
- Reports conflict: Chris Haynes says Detroit wants to keep Duren
- Brown has not requested a trade; Boston is reshaping after missing on Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Boston Celtics are putting a steep price on Jaylen Brown. The team is asking for at least four first-round picks in conversations with potential suitors, ESPN's Shams Charania reported, as Boston explores reshaping a roster that just missed out on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Pistons angle
Detroit and Boston have discussed a framework that would send Brown to the Pistons with center Jalen Duren as the centerpiece of a sign-and-trade. The reporting conflicts: Marc Stein and Jake Fischer say the Pistons are "very much weighing" it, while Chris Haynes reports Detroit isn't interested in moving Duren and wants to keep its All-Star center. Brown, for his part, has not requested a trade.
The read
The four-pick ask is the tell. It is a number that prices in Brown's supermax contract and All-NBA pedigree — and it is also the number a team sets when it would rather keep the player than move him cheaply. Boston's post-apron math, not a falling-out, is what is driving this: the same luxury-tax squeeze that won Brad Stevens Executive of the Year is now forcing the harder version of the same question, a year after the Celtics' title window came under pressure.
Those talks ultimately produced a deal: the Celtics traded Brown to the 76ers for Paul George and four draft picks.
Source: CBS Sports, NBC Sports
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