Why the Celtics have to keep Jaylen Brown at this point

When the Milwaukee Bucks decided to take the Miami's Heat offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, they left the Boston Celtics stuck standing pat, or at least for the time being. And with it already known the Celtics were willing to break up their championship duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, there are now questions about if they will do so in the aftermath of missing out on Antetokounmpo. 

At this point, the answer of what Boston should do is clear. Based on the continuous goal of the franchise and with the first round of the NBA Draft in the books, the Celtics have to keep Brown. 

While Brown's comments following Boston's first round Game 7 loss about enjoying the 2025-26 season more than any other — he was able to be the No. 1 option as Tatum recovered from a torn Achilles made fans and media wonder if he's happy in his role, the Celtics have to always do what's best for their team. 

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been very successful together in Boston  

In their nine years together, the Celtics have made the playoffs every season, advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals six times, the NBA Finals twice and won the NBA title in 2024. Brown, not Tatum, was even named MVP of the both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals during their championship run. 

Regardless of what or may not be true about personal feelings, the All-Star pairing of Tatum and Brown has been wildly successful, even among the most successful in the NBA since they were drafted a year apart from each other in 2016 and 2017. The team may need to adjust its offensive strategy in living and dying by taking way too many threes. However, they can certainly win at a high level together, having proven it under head coach Joe Mazzulla, too.