The Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes finally ended late on Monday night when the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade the franchise icon to the Miami Heat in exchange for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (including No. 13 in this year’s draft), one pick swap and one second-round pick, according to ESPN.
Antetokounmpo very easily could have been off to Boston, but though the Celtics “aggressively” pursued the two-time MVP, per ESPN, the Bucks decided to pass on president of basketball operations Brad Stevens’ offer of Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks. Further details regarding the Celtics’ offer are unclear.
Giannis Antetokounmpo trade winners and losers: Why Heat fall in both categories, great news for Knicks
Sam Quinn
As the dust settles from one of the biggest trades in NBA history, some of the biggest questions revolve around Brown and the Celtics’ path forward. Can they bring Brown back after offering to trade him? Should they, following some of his strange comments after the season? And if they want to move on, what else could they get in return?
Let’s take a closer look.
Does it make sense to bring Brown back?
The Celtics have been extremely successful throughout the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era. Since Tatum arrived in 2017, one year after Brown, the team has never missed the playoffs. Along the way, “The Jays” have led the Celtics to five Eastern Conference Finals, two Finals and a championship in 2024.
Brown will turn 30 in October, while Tatum recently turned 28. Even though Tatum missed the majority of last season with a torn Achilles tendon, those two would be the foundation of a very good team for years to come. But can the Celtics win another title with those two as their best players?
Their pursuit of Antetokounmpo suggests that Stevens has doubts, especially given Tatum and Brown’s massive salaries — combined, they’ll make just over $115 million next season, or just under 70% of the salary cap — and the restrictions on team building around two max players under this collective bargaining agreement.
These comments stood out from Stevens’ exit interview after the Celtics blew a 3-1 lead to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs:
“Our margin for error needs to get bigger, and at the same time, I don’t think we’re, like, way far away,” Stevens mentioned. “But we’ve lived it here. Again, this is where the honest assessment part has got to come in, right? We’ve been to six Eastern Conference Finals, a couple Finals in the last few years. We’ve won one. And when you get beat in the first round, you’re not there. …
“You have to consider the other teams that are at those levels, and I think the other thing that you have to consider, especially for next year, is there were a lot of teams in the NBA that were playing for draft positioning this year,” Stevens continued. “That will not be the case next year. So, the league’s gonna be a lot better. The regular season could be a lot harder, and it will probably give you a better indication of what everybody really is.”
If the Celtics bring back Brown, get Tatum fully healthy and make some moves on the margins, they’ll likely cruise to 50-plus wins and a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. Most teams would kill for that kind of success. But championships have always been the goal in Boston, and when you blow a 3-1 lead in the first round, it’s hard to argue that you’re a few moves on the margins away from winning a title.
The Bucks waited too long to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, and they still might’ve chosen the wrong package
Brad Botkin
How does Brown’s strange end to the season factor in?
With Jayson Tatum sidelined for the majority of the season, Brown took on the lead role for the first time in his career. Everyone thought that the Celtics would take a gap year, but Brown showed he could be the first option and carried the Celtics to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference while averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists — all career highs. He finished sixth in MVP voting, was an All-Star and made the All-NBA Second Team.
The Celtics ultimately crashed out in the first round of the playoffs, however, in part due to some rough outings from Brown in Games 5 and 6 when they had a chance to close out the series.
Afterward, Brown mentioned that the 2025-26 campaign was his “favorite season” of his career.
“I think this has been my favorite season so far, being able to get an opportunity to lead a group,” he mentioned on a Twitch stream. “A group of guys who — some of us, we have some championship experience, but we have five or six new guys who haven’t really played NBA basketball, and now we look like one of the better teams in the league.
“This group is a special group,” Brown added. “I’m so proud of this group and the way we played. I wish we trusted that style of play a little bit more, but I know playoffs kind of shifted our rotations and what we wanted to do. I’m so proud and it was my favorite year of my basketball career.”
The comments sparked plenty of backlash given the early exit and the fact that Brown had previously won Finals MVP after leading the Celtics to a title. To make matters worse, Tracy McGrady — an advisor to Brown — went on his podcast with Vince Carter and mentioned that Brown was “frustrated” with the Celtics.
“His frustration lies deeply in the organization and other things that we really don’t have the details. It’s just a lot of stuff I’ve been hearing just going on with the Boston organization with JB,” McGrady mentioned. Though McGrady later walked back his comments, the damage was done.
Stevens and Brown both had to address the situation.
“He has not expressed those frustrations to me,” Stevens mentioned during his exit interview, adding that his conversations with Brown were “nothing but positive.”
Brown, for his part, mentioned, “I hate that (Stevens) even had to respond to this. Me and Brad have a great relationship. I love Boston. If it was up to me, I could play in Boston for the next 10 years.”
Jaylen Brown hasn’t shared ‘frustrations’ with Celtics, says president Brad Stevens: ‘Nothing but positive’
Jasmyn Wimbish
Stevens and Brown both mentioned the right thing, but there is, has been, and will continue to be a lot of smoke about Brown wanting his own team. Hours before the Antetokounmpo trade went down, when the Celtics were still in the mix, Brian Windhorst stated that Brown has thought about being the main man for “some time.”
“And I understand that the initial response is going to be, ‘Well, what does Jaylen Brown think about this?'” Windhorst mentioned on “First Take.” “From what I understand, Jaylen Brown is accepting this and realizes this is a chance to turn the page in his career and that he may be getting his own team, which is something that he has thought about for some time.”
Players understand that trade talks are part of the business, but that doesn’t mean they have to like it. And there’s no chance that Brown enjoyed being the subject of trade rumors immediately after he put the Celtics on his back for seven months. The last few weeks will irrevocably change his relationship with the franchise.
“To all the people that doubted me or want me gone, you’re turning me into a monster,” Brown mentioned Monday on his stream.
What could the Celtics get for Brown?
We may not know immediately how the Celtics or Brown will react to the team’s failed pursuit of Antetokounmpo.
Stevens and Co. could try to smooth things over with Brown, perhaps by offering him the two-year, $141.9 million extension he’s eligible for in July, which would keep him under contract through 2031. Brown is already under contract through 2029, so the Celtics are under no obligation to move him. And, again, they would be a very good team if they kept him and Tatum together.
However, one or both parties may decide that it’s impossible to go back to business as usual, so we have to at least consider what the Celtics could get for Brown. Of course, the problem for the Celtics is that the situation with the Bucks presented a unique opportunity to move Brown for a player who, when healthy, is top five in the league.
Giannis Antetokounmpo trade grades: Heat earn ‘B+’ in blockbuster, while Bucks pay for waiting too long
Sam Quinn
Barring a major surprise, no other deal would bring back anyone close to Antetokounmpo’s level. It’s also much more difficult to judge the value of future picks given the league’s new anti-tanking rules.
Let’s run through a few possible trade partners and what they could offer for Brown:
- New Orleans Pelicans: Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Kevon Looney and some combination of pick(s) and swaps
- Houston Rockets: Kevin Durant, Clint Capela and some combination of pick(s) and swaps
- San Antonio Spurs: De’Aaron Fox, Carter Bryant and some combination of pick(s) and swaps
- Orlando Magic: Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr. and some combination of pick(s) and swaps
None of those players is as good as Brown, and what’s the point of trading him for someone worse while Tatum is in the middle of his prime? At the same time, Stevens admitted last season’s group wasn’t good enough, so what’s the point of running that group back with an almost certainly disgruntled Brown?
Stevens is one of the best executives in the league, and maybe he has something up his sleeve. But when you lay out some of the possible alternative options, it’s clear that once he got involved in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, he probably should have done what was necessary to win it.
