Heat won Giannis trade sweepstakes, so what come next for Celtics? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
So … what happens now?
Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the move, but not to the Boston Celtics. After what was essentially a full month of rumors and endless speculation about Antetokounmpo’s future, culminating with Boston being framed as a frontrunner, it’s the Miami Heat that emerge in the final tug of war for the two-time MVP’s services.
ESPN reported that the Bucks settled on Miami’s package headlined by Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jacquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, and three first-round picks, while sending out Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis. The network also reported that Boston’s final offer was Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks.
The big question in the aftermath of what became a very public pursuit of Antetokounmpo is what it all means for Brown’s future in Boston. While trade rumors involving Brown have swirled repeatedly in past seasons, especially when superstars like Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard became available, it never felt like they advanced to a place where the relationship might have been in jeopardy.
Can the Celtics mend fences again this time around? Did their pursuit of Antetokounmpo suggest an unwillingness to pay Brown the big-money extension he could soon be seeking? And what does Brown desire for his own future?
Boston’s presence in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes certainly forced Miami to mortgage its own future, with the Heat sending out just about every future asset it had in order to pair the former MVP with Bam Adebayo. But now the Celtics must determine if it’s still possible to move forward with its own superstar tandem of Brown and Jayson Tatum.
Will this be another storyline in the wild journey of the Jays?
Brad Stevens, who had pledged to be aggressive in pursuit of roster upgrades this offseason in the aftermath of Boston’s disappointing first-round exit against the Philadelphia 76ers, did stress in that moment how good the Celtics have been when they’ve had a healthy Tatum and Brown.
“I don’t take for granted how good we’ve been when we’ve been full,” Stevens said at his end-of-the-season press conference. “When we’ve been full, and all on the court and playing together, we’ve been a good basketball team.”
Brown put up an MVP-caliber season while Tatum rehabbed from Achilles surgery. Is Brown willing to slide back into a 1A/1B type relationship with a healthier Tatum. The duo has been to two NBA finals and captured the elusive Banner 18 in 2024.
Even if the Celtics can smooth things over with Brown and move forward with the Jays, it’s hard to see an obvious pathway to overhauling the core around that duo. The Celtics have access to some roster-building assets this offseason in the midlevel exception and a bulky traded player exception from the Anfernee Simons trade, but must also navigate a potential desire to stay below the luxury tax again this season.
Doing such would reset pesky repeater penalties and allow the Celtics to spend more freely next summer.
Could the Celtics explore other moves involving Brown? It’s unclear if two max-salary players are sustainable under the new collective bargaining agreement. Brown could lobby for a big-money extension starting this summer and Boston would be in line to pay him upwards of $70 million per season by the end of that deal.
Boston could also explore what’s feasible this summer if they were willing to move Derrick White, Sam Hauser, or Payton Pritchard — the only other three players making north of minimum money.
The Celtics have picks Nos. 27 and 40 entering Tuesday night’s draft.
One other intriguing subplot from the Antetokounmpo pursuit: Reports suggested that Milwaukee was interested in Hugo Gonzalez, but the reported final offer did not include the 20-year-old, who just finished his rookie season.
It might be a sign that the front office is bullish on his future and his ability to be an impact player for the team moving forward.
