Insider: Celtics-Clippers Trade Involving Jaylen Brown Would Have Too Many Moving Parts

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The Boston Celtics offered Jaylen Brown and draft picks to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to NBA insider Shams Charania, but did not end up landing him.

However, ESPN's Brian Windhorst thinks the Celtics losing the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes is simply the start of a Jaylen Brown bidding war. Teams know Brown was made available, and know the Celtics are willing to move him for the right price. Not only do they know that, but Windhorst suggests that they have been preparing for this scenario.

"They, of course, knew it was possible they were going to lose to Miami," Windhorst said on "Get Up" on Tuesday. "They wanted to win. They made a very strong offer, but they were not willing to put their entire team in. They were not willing to put other pieces in, because on the other side of this trade, they had to have a team. Now, what I expect to happen is a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality. That it wouldn't be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes, and there would be a Jaylen Brown market. We're now going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out, but if there's a draft pick involved, that could happen today."

Windhorst went on to say five to ten teams could realistically make calls to the Celtics for Brown. Celtics insider Brian Robb made a list of five potential trade partners for the Celtics, and one of them was the Los Angeles Clippers. However, it would be very difficult to get a trade across the finish line.

"There have been conflicting reports about the availability of the No. 5 overall pick in the past week along with the Clippers’ interest in Brown," Robb wrote on Tuesday. "Any deal involving Brown’s contract would require over $40 million in outgoing salary to match. The Clippers would either be tearing apart the bottom half of their roster or sending out Kawhi Leonard or Darius Garland in that scenario. It’s hard to envision that happening without a bunch of other moving pieces beyond Brown in a deal."

Not only would the Clippers have to give up the No. 5 overall pick, but they would have to find a way to remain competitive after adding Brown. There's a lot of moving parts involved, and for this deal to be worth it for the Celtics the would have to be getting the No. 5 overall pick, meaning they would have less than 10 hours to figure out all of the parts of this trade.

Of all the teams that could make a call on Brown, the Clippers may have the toughest time pulling a trade off. Additionally, the Celtics have only ever made Brown available for players bound for the Hall of Fame. They offered him for Antetokounmpo this year and for Kevin Durant in 2022.

The Clippers have Leonard, but he is about to turn 35, is making $50 million and has a lengthy injury history. The seven-time All-Star is simply too risky of an addition for Boston.

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