Celtics Shut Down Jaylen Brown, Derrick White Trade Rumors With Strong Statement

The Celtics are no longer listening to offers for Jaylen Brown or Derrick White. Or well, they never were listening in the first place. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, in his conversation with the Celtics' Assistant GM, Mike Zarren, he told him that the Celtics have no interest in letting their star players go. 

“Those two guys are really, really great players, and there hasn’t been anything close to seriously trading them. I'm not sure where all that reporting came from.”

The Celtics' trade moves at the beginning of the offseason made it seem like they were about to blow it all up and go into a rebuild mode. But, contrary to reports, they only moved two key starters before the NBA Draft, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were reportedly also on the trade block, but it seems that the Celtics have decided to stop the bleeding. 

Jaylen Brown averaged 22.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in all games played this season (including the Playoffs). Meanwhile, Derrick White averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.6 rebounds in the same period. Brown won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP during their championship run in 2024 and was awarded the first $300 million contract in NBA history just a season before that. Shows you how pivotal Brown has been to the Celtics in the past few years. 

What The Celtics Did In The 2025 NBA Draft

Before the beginning of the offseason, the Celtics were operating in the second apron and anticipating heavy restrictions in the coming season. However, they traded Holiday and Porzingis and have now successfully moved below the second apron threshold by approximately $4.6 million. 

The Celtics moved down in the second round by trading their 32nd pick to the Magic for pick No. 46, No. 57, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick. Zarren claimed that this move was done with the rationale that the Celtics will be able to get more young talent that they like on the roster. 

“All the time we’re looking for the ability to get more assets in the future and still get a bunch of good players,” Zarren said. “We felt pretty confident that there’d be guys we liked lower in the draft, and we had the ability to add a couple of really good future draft picks in addition to getting those guys. So, that’s what we did.”

So it seems that the Celtics have, in a way, begun their rebuild by definitely going younger. They traded Holiday for Simons and now brought on two second-round picks this season. Now they are deconstructing their roster due to the second apron, but have decided to hold onto Brown and White for the long run. 

While the Celtics want to retain a deep roster, having two of the largest contracts in the NBA's history on their payroll does not really offer a lot of flexibility to them in their other moves. Therefore, even if they claim that Brown, White, and Tatum are their franchise cornerstones at this point, the near future may still see either of these players moving if a team presents a luring offer to them. 

The Spurs, Raptors, and Rockets are teams expected to be in play if the Celtics decide to listen to offers for either of these two players.