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ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Tim Bontemps question the wisdom of a Jaylen Brown-Kevin Durant trade for Celtics

Justin Quinn
·3 min read
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While the rumbles of a potential trade of Boston Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown to the Brooklyn Nets for veteran superstar swingman Kevin Durant appear to have stalled if they ever even had any traction to speak of in the first place, the debate continues on with seemingly few supporters coming out of the woodwork suggesting such a deal would make sense for Boston.

With Brown playing as the Celtics’ best player in the 2022 NAB Finals at just 22 years old with a relatively solid injury history and a seeming connection to the city of the team that drafted him and with much popularity with that team’s fans, to risk it all for a player with a concerningly advanced age and injury history has increasingly come under scrutiny.

“Why would a Boston team that was two wins away from winning it all trade away two key components of its roster? Is Durant too enticing to pass up if you are the Celtics?” asked Marks.

“That is the fundamental question, Bobby, one I spent more than an hour discussing with our colleague Zach Lowe on his podcast Monday evening in the wake of Adrian’s report,” replied Bontemps.

“And while I likely will be in the minority on this, I wouldn’t make the kind of trade you laid out if I was Brad Stevens and running Boston’s front office.”

“Durant is obviously an all-time-great player and clearly is better than Brown right now,” continued the ESPN analyst.

“But the Celtics have built the NBA’s deepest team, especially after getting Malcolm Brogdon this summer from the Indiana Pacers. Boston has constructed a roster built around a pair of young, dynamic two-way wing players in Brown and Jayson Tatum, and has as good of a defense as I’ve seen in my decade covering the NBA. Trading for Durant would mean fundamentally changing the team and how it plays.”

Many people would look at that and say, “Sign me up!” I completely understand why,” added Bontemps. “But, to me, you make this trade only if it moves you from one tier to another when discussing a team’s championship odds.”

 

“In my opinion, that would not be the case for the Celtics,” he finished.

And in truth, we here at the Celtics Wire are very much inclined to agree.

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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire