Desperate Celtics Jaylen Brown trade pitch could unlock Spurs' title window

In a recent mock trade, San Antonio would receive last year's Finals MVP, Jaylen Brown, exponentially increasing their title odds. The Spurs are on their way to a busy offseason, one that will examine every avenue to improve the roster.

General manager Brian Wright may opt to go star-shopping and not be afraid to shoot for the moon. Sitting in the aisle of options, one route includes bringing in a player who won on the biggest stage in the game.

Jaylen Brown is just a year removed from a legendary playoff run where he put his Boston Celtics on his back and dominated the playoffs on both sides of the floor. The 28-year-old is a three-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA second team member. Even in a down 2024-25 campaign, Brown eclipsed 22 points per game to go along with 1.2 steals and a career high 4.5 assists.

The newest big three

On the Celtics, Brown has thrived in his role as the second option behind Jayson Tatum. He knows when to create for himself and when to defer to his co-star. This is the perfect trait to welcome to a team featuring De'Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama.

Brown would give the Spurs an invincible starting lineup of three All-Stars and the reigning Rookie of the Year. Offensively, the group would be near unguardable and have versatility all over the court. In particular, this group would thrive in transition and would wear teams down with their grit and hustle.

Equally great on defense as he is on offense, Brown's burly 6'6" frame and top-to-bottom strength would aid Wembanyama's efforts manning the defense. Along with Stephon Castle, Brown would bring the final touch to a potentially dominant defensive group.

The idea is nothing but intriguing, yet there is a hefty price to pay.

A monumental sacrifice

After striking gold in the draft lottery and receiving the second overall pick, the Spurs would ship it to Boston in this hypothetical deal. Already drooling over the idea of Dylan Harper, it would be devastating to see him go before he even gets here. But that's the price to pay for All-Star talent.

In the deal, the Spurs would say goodbye to a trio of valuable role players. Seasoned Spurs Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, as well as upstart Julian Champagnie, would find a new home.
The deal would slash through the Spurs' depth and leave them without much of a bench unit.

Lastly, the Spurs would be sending off their 2028 first-round pick as part of the deal. This would be the least of their worries, as the pick likely ends up within the 20s come 2028. However, it would further limit the Spurs' ability to make further moves down the road.

Is this the right move?

With their current pool of assets and three core pieces, they can only afford to make one slam-dunk move. There can only be so many cooks in the kitchen before it goes haywire. And in this case, I believe that would be in the result.

While Brown would bring a nice scoring punch and help the perimeter defense, I don't think it is worth the price the Spurs would pay. Offensively, the Spurs are sound as they currently stand. With Brown, it would be hard to feed each player their deserved touches. The move would kill the offensive development of Castle and limit Wembanyama from being an overwhelming scorer.

Most importantly, this deal would erase any depth from the team. Brown has a massive $304 million deal, which would suffocate Wright from making any additional moves, leaving a porous bench unit in a state of despair. It's the same problem the Celtics would be trying to remedy by offloading that contract. They're grossly over the cap.

While this deal would give the Spurs a higher ceiling in year one, the loss of depth, cap space and draft assets would limit the terrific possibilities the Spurs have in their future,

Trade Grade: C