As trade rumors continue to swirl around Jaylen Brown, one NBA reporter has revealed what is no doubt the worst take ever on the Boston Celtics star.

ESPN reporter Bobby Marks was a guest on SiriusXM NBA Radio with Brian Geltzeiler and revealed that an unnamed “analytics guy” doesn’t have much respect for Brown’s talent.

In fact, the analytics guy told Marks that he views Brown as the “seventh-best player on a team.”

“There’s mixed feeling about [Brown] when you talk to teams,” Marks said. “The analytics of Jaylen Brown is not good…. I had an analytics guy tell me: ‘We view [Brown] as the seventh-best player on a team.”

A ridiculous take

This is an absolutely outlandish take.

Brown is a six-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA second team, was a Most Valuable Player candidate last season and has a ring and NBA Finals MVP award.

Not only is Brown one of the two-best players on his own team, he’s one of the better players in the entire NBA.

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The analytics community already gets a ton of flak in all sports and this ridiculous take is not going to help at all.

Maybe this is some kind of attempt to hurt Brown’s value in a trade, but the Celtics know full well what they have, as does the rest of the league, and some random analytics guy isn’t going to change that.

Latest Jaylen Brown trade rumors

On the Jaylen Brown trade front, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that Boston is looking for at least four first-round picks in exchange for their star.

That’s a lot, but we’ve seen lesser players — like Mikal Bridges, for example — garner five first-round picks in return, so it’s certainly not an absurd asking price.

One team rumored to be “actively pursuing” a trade for Brown is the Portland Trail Blazers, according to The Stein Line, who notes Portland has long coveted him.

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“The Blazers have been known to covet Brown dating back to Damian Lillard’s first tenure with the franchise. And they still do,” The Stein Line reported.

The Stein Line adds that neither the Charlotte Hornets nor the Houston Rockets are in pursuit of Brown at the moment.

All of this puts the Blazers in good position to pull off a trade with the Celtics for Brown, but it remains to be seen how willing they are to give up the kind of draft capital it would take.

These Two Teams Are Reportedly Not Pursuing Celtics' Jaylen Brown originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Celtics reportedly offered Jaylen Brown in a package for Giannis Antetokounmpo, and even though Antetokounmpo is headed to Miami, the Celtics are still taking calls on Brown.

The Celtics had made Jaylen Brown available in the past, and ended up keeping him, essentially reconciling with him. However, this time feels different. In the past, Brad Stevens has said he envisions Brown staying with the Celtics for a long time, but on Tuesday, he left the door open to part ways.

“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said. “I’m never going to predict the future, but … the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been. He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate. Great person to be around. Whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship and an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. But I look at it as, ‘This is our team.’”

Plenty of teams could benefit from adding Brown. He is coming off his best season and has three years left on his deal. He is also extension-eligible this offseason. The Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly discussed him before adding LaMelo Ball. While the exact list of interested teams is unknown, NBA insider Marc Stein revealed two teams that are not pursuing Brown.

“It has been stressed in recent days that neither the (Charlotte) Hornets nor the (Houston) Rockets, despite speculation, are actively pursuing Jaylen Brown," wrote Stein on Friday.

It would make sense for the Hornets to target Brown after parting ways with LaMelo. They have the assets to make it happen and were a win away from making the playoffs last year. The Rockets could also use a player like Brown after a disappointing exit in the playoffs.

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Celtics Front Office Member Reveals What Team Looks For In Late Draft Picks originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

One downside of consistently being one of the NBA's premier teams is that the Boston Celtics are consistently picking in the bottom fourth of the NBA Draft.

Even after a down year and an uncharacteristic first-round exit in the NBA Playoffs, Boston had the 27th overall selection in this week's 2026 NBA Draft. 

The Celtics used the 27th pick on Houston's Chris Cenac Jr., before selecting St. John's's Dillon Mitchell 15 picks later. 

Before the draft began, Celtics Assistant General Manager Dave Lewin sat down with team coverage Manager Taylor Snow and revealed what the team looks for in its draft picks. 

"A lot of the players that are the most talented have gone at the top of the draft, so those guys are no longer on board when you’re in the late 20s," Lewin told Celtics.com. "Late in the first and early in the second, those guys are still very talented, but mostly in the same ballpark of talent, so finding guys with the right mindset and competitive character is often the differential."

Lewin touched on recent draft hits like Baylor Scheierman, Payton Pritchard and Hugo Gonzalez during the lengthy interview. The overall message was consistent: the team prioritizes finding team-first contributors who are comfortable playing off-ball. 

Those players are then heavily examined by Brad Stevens and the rest of the staff to ensure that they have the makeup of a Celtics draftee. 

"We want to make sure that we have followed a player for a while," Lewin said. "We’ve seen him play in a variety of different settings. We’ve talked to people that have coached the player, worked with the player across a variety of settings, such that we know from every angle who this player has been as a basketball player, what his experiences have been, and how he’s handled and responded to a variety of different goals and circumstances throughout his career.

"We want to get a sense of who they are, what they’re about, what motivates them, what makes them tick."

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NBA Writer Names Why This Western Conference Team Should Make Jaylen Brown Its No. 1 Offseason Priority originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

If the Celtics are considering trading Jaylen Brown this offseason, it might be better to send him to a Western Conference team so they don't have to deal with him in the East.

There are a handful of young and upcoming teams that should be looking to add Brown, and Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes thinks the Dallas Mavericks' No. 1 priority should be landing Brown.

"If Brown is going to be dealt, the Mavs would be remiss in not taking a crack at him. Though adding a pricey vet would cut against Dallas' youth-driven reorientation around Cooper Flagg and former Michigan head coach Dusty May, the potential of Flagg, Brown and Kyrie Irving together is hard to dismiss," Hughes wrote on Friday.

If Dallas could add Brown, it might become a legitimate NBA Finals contender over the next few seasons. The Mavericks would need Flagg to take another major leap in the next two seasons, but he was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft and has the potential to become a league star.

The Celtics would probably want a third team to complete the trade, since the Mavericks don't have many good players to give up and there is no way Irving would be coming back to play in Boston.

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Former Duke Star Reportedly Set To Coach Celtics' Summer League Squad originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Celtics season wrapped up almost two months ago, but a few of their players will be heading to the court in July during the NBA Summer League.

Usually, rookies and second-year players who didn't see much action compete in summer league games. It's a great way to see young players progress and also gives young coaches a chance to perform as well.

Boston will not have head coach Joe Mazzulla coaching these games. Adam Himmelsbach from The Boston Globe reported on Friday that Amile Jefferson will be the head coach of the Celtics' summer league.

Per source, Amile Jefferson will be head coach of the Celtics’ summer league team.

Have to assume Jayson Tatum will make an appearance in Vegas to support his guy.

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) June 26, 2026

Jefferson joined the Celtics staff as an assistant coach in the summer of 2023 after spending time as an assistant at Duke. The 33-year-old coach played five seasons at Duke from 2012 to 2017 and was also a teammate of Jayson Tatum. Jefferson played in only 30 NBA games, all with the Orlando Magic.

The Celtics will now have the opportunity to see how Jefferson can lead a team as the head coach. Many young coaches take this opportunity to learn how to be a head coach, and it might help Jefferson secure a head coaching position in the NBA or at the college level in the future.

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Trail Blazers In 'Active And Aggressive' Pursuit Of Celtics' Jaylen Brown originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Portland Trail Blazers reportedly tried getting Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this offseason, and are now in pursuit of Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.

The Trail Blazers have assets and Picks to make a splash trade for a superstar. They made the NBA Playoffs last year and could use a star to pair with Deni Avdija. NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Trail Blazers are in "active and aggressive" pursuit of Brown during a Bleacher Report livestream.

"The Trail Blazers are one of the few confirmed teams that we have as an active and aggressive team pursuing Jaylen Brown," Fischer said on Friday. "We've talked about this dating back to February. They wanted to get into the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. They have three years of Milwaukee Bucks draft capital that they control, dating back to when the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard."

Fischer noted that Jerami Grant's contract can be used as a salary match in a deal for a star like Brown. The Celtics have only made Brown available in deals that would net them a superstar player in the past, but Brad Stevens left the door open for a trade during a press conference on Tuesday.

“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said. “I’m never going to predict the future, but … the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been. He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate. Great person to be around. Whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship and an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. But I look at it as, ‘This is our team.’”

Fischer also reported on Friday that it is more likely than not at this point that Brown is traded. The Trail Blazers have young players like Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe that they could offer up to the Celtics as well.

During the livestream, Fischer also noted that Brown is a player the Trail Blazers have had an eye on since Lillard's first stint with the team, before he became a Buck.

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NBA Writer Identifies This Eastern Conference Rising Team That Should Prioritize Landing Jaylen Brown originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Celtics will face a pivotal decision regarding Jaylen Brown this summer, and numerous indications suggest they may consider trading him.

If the Celtics are considering trading Brown, Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes believes the Atlanta Hawks' top priority this offseason is acquiring him.

"Though Atlanta held onto its pair of first-rounders, taking Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor, this is still a team without a front-line star. Brown would certainly fit that description, and the Georgia native might enjoy a homecoming," Hughes wrote on Friday.

Brown is from the Atlanta area, so he would be able to have a homecoming. He would also have the opportunity to join a team that is ready to compete for a title immediately. The Hawks made the playoffs this past season but fell to the Knicks in the first round.

The Hawks should do everything possible to land Brown. Superstar players don’t become available often, and landing a guy from Atlanta could be a great thing for the city and fanbase.

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Another Report Points To Celtics Reunion With Fan-Favorite Big Man originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Perhaps there really is something to this Celtics-Robert Williams III reunion rumor.

Earlier this week, Bleacher Report NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that Boston is interested in reuniting with Williams, who is an unrestricted free agent. And Fischer doubled down with another report later in the week.

“The Celtics have definitely sent out signals that they want to be big players in the big man market," Fischer reported, as transcribed by Celtics blogger John-Griner Canady. "I’ve heard Boston linked to Mitchell Robinson and Robert Williams III”

The Celtics drafted Williams with the 27th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. The athletic center struggled with injuries but, when healthy, emerged as one of the more dynamic big men in the league. After the 2022-23 season, Williams was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in the deal that brought Jrue Holiday to Boston.

Injuries limited Williams to just 26 games over his first two seasons in Portland. But he bounced back last season by averaging 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 59 games while posting his best PER (22.1) since the 2021-22 season.

Most notably, Williams added 3-point shooting to his arsenal, making nine of 23 3-point attempts (39%). He attempted just seven 3-pointers over his first seven seasons in the league.

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Sports Radio Host Discusses Reasons Why LeBron James Should Sign With Celtics This Summer originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The summer of LeBron James is heating up as he will be an unrestricted free agent at the start of July. Even though LeBron is 41, there are still plenty of teams that probably want his services.

Even though LeBron has spent the last eight seasons with the Lakers, sports radio host Craig Carton wants to see LeBron play for Los Angeles' biggest rival, the Boston Celtics.

"LeBron James should join the Boston Celtics," Carton said on Wednesday. "Because if the Celtics have Jaylen Brown still there, which he is right now. Brown, Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard who has been one of the best guys off the bench in the league. And you add LeBron to that mix. They need a big man they can count on to get through Karl-Anthony Towns, and even if they went to the Finals against either Victor Wembanyama or the two-headed monster we have in Oklahoma City. LeBron could win a championship if he joins the Celtics."

LEBRON JAMES SHOULD GO TO THE CELTICS TO WIN ANOTHER TITLE!

"LeBron James should join the Boston Celtics! You add LeBron James to that mix! Perfectly complements the backcourt of Tatum & Brown!" — Craig Carton@craigcartonlive@TyJohnsonNews#NBA#Celtics#LeBronJamespic.twitter.com/wNgT1YhQtI

— The Craig Carton Show (@CraigCartonShow) June 24, 2026

It would be a cool dream to see LeBron play for the Celtics, but that probably won't happen. If LeBron leaves the Lakers, he will likely head back home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he spent 11 seasons of his career, or head up the coast in California and join the Golden State Warriors to play with Steph Curry.

Boston would likely be the favorite to come out of the East if it added LeBron, but the Celtics might want to focus on their current roster and figure out what to do with Brown before making any big-time free agent moves.

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