Jaylen Brown, Derrick White rumors continue to intensify for Celtics

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens did his job — and in impressively short order, too — and got the Celtics under the dreaded second apron. But that hasn't stopped rival executives from continuing to circle Stevens and the Celtics in pursuit of a big-time trade that'd strip the already-reeling Celtics of even more talent ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.

With two (obvious) names in mind, too: Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.

"The Celtics prefer not to trade Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, but listen, the offers that they're getting right now and the conversations are going to be had," ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday during a hit on The Stephen A. Smith Show. "Does it reach the value, and that's the question stated. So, you're looking at a lot of potential movement around the Celtics.

"There are multiple teams that have significant interest in Jaylen Brown. The contract is steep, I understand it, but listen, there are teams, especially in today's NBA [and] especially in the East and now what we're seeing in the West, too, it's an arms race. So, even if you're a team meddling in the playoffs, you're trying to get there, you're trying to make a swing. And I think what we're going to see now, in both conferences, is a lot of activity."

And even after the Celtics sent Porzingis to the Hawks, teams are still calling the Celtics on their remaining stars, according to Charania.

“The phone lines are ringing in Boston,” Charania told Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter. “My understanding is the Celtics are getting offers, calls on both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. The Celtics have high price thresholds for both players. I’m sure they’re getting some massive offers, some pretty big-time calls as well. Their preference has been to keep both players. But this is a team that’s still in the first apron, still a luxury-tax team, still dealing with the uncertainty of Jayson Tatum’s status next season.

“Will a team match that price threshold that, I’m told, the Celtics have set around the league for Jaylen Brown or Derrick White to be able to get them? They are listening, but will a team get there?”

Trading one (or both) of Brown and White — and especially with Tatum looking at a potential full season on the shelf as he recovers from a torn Achilles suffered in Boston's second-round series with the Knicks — would certainly shift things from a 'retool' to a one-year (at least) rebuild in Boston.

But there's also no ignoring the seller's market that it could be for those players, especially with the Celtics officially out of having to truly sell low like they did on Porzingis and Jrue Holiday due to the second apron penalties.

In Memphis, the Grizzlies were able to net two players and four unprotected first-round picks from the Magic in exchange for Desmond Bane. Phoenix, meanwhile, traded Kevin Durant for two players, the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and five second-round picks. And if you want to go back to last offseason, the Nets sent Mikal Bridges to the Knicks in exchange for one player and five first-round picks (four of which were unprotected).

Coupling these reports with the rumblings that the C's would like to get in the range of a lottery pick, it feels like a team is going to have to blow the Celtics' doors clean off if they're looking to steal Brown or White out of Boston.

The closest case of that may come out of Toronto, where the Raptors are reportedly interested in making a significant push for White.

"As part of unexpected discussions held with the Celtics this week, sources say the Raptors created an offer based around the ninth pick in the 2025 NBA Draft," Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported on Wednesday afternoon. "The expectation is that if Toronto was to swing a deal for White in the coming hours leading up to Wednesday's draft, they would do so with the involvement of other teams as part of a larger, multi-team trade."

For the Celtics, it may very well be deciding if it's better to put themselves through an organizational reset while Tatum is on the shelf or committing themselves to a Brown-White-Tatum 'big three' when Tatum is ready to return.

The former basically throws 2025-26 out the window in terms of competing before it even begins, which may already be the case with Tatum unavailable. The latter, meanwhile, certainly limits their 2025-26 ceiling for but also allows the Celtics to return to true championship contention if Tatum is able to return and be the player he was prior to the injury.

With the NBA Draft just hours away, the only thing that's clear is that nothing is clear when it comes to the Celtics' direction.