Brad Stevens addresses Jaylen Brown's Celtics future amid trade rumors originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics selected Houston center Chris Cenac Jr. with the No. 27 overall pick in Tuesday’s first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, but the main topic of discussion during team president of basketball operations Brad Stevens’ press conference at the end of the night was Jaylen Brown’s future with the franchise.
Brown reportedly was part of a trade offer the Celtics made to the Milwaukee Bucks for superstar big man Giannis Ante. The Bucks ultimately chose to send Ante to the Heat late Monday night and accept Miami’s trade package instead.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday afternoon the Celtics were “listening” to teams calling about Brown.
Stevens said he’s been in contact with Brown throughout the offseason.
“We had a couple of meetings earlier at the end of May, also before he went back overseas a couple of days ago, or 10 days ago or so,” Stevens said. “Spent a lot of time just the two of us sitting down together, and then have been, like every offseason, in regular touch with his agent all the way through the last couple of days. Obviously, with all the rumor mill and all that stuff, and his name being splashed all over the place, that’s not easy – but we certainly wanted to be as proactive and upfront with that as possible, and I thought we had really good, candid conversations.”
Stevens was asked if Brown will be on the Celtics at the beginning of next season.
“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said. “I’m never going to predict the future, but every indication, everything that I think about over the past few years has been building around those guys, right? So obviously, you never know.
“But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been. He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate, a great person to be around. And whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires, or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship, an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. I look at it as, this is our team.”
Brown is eligible for an extension in July. Stevens said he doesn’t talk about contract stuff publicly.
When asked if he feels Brown and Jayson Tatum are still a championship-caliber duo, Stevens emphatically answered “yes.”
