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Celtics go all-in with Jaylen Brown move to win Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes

Celtics go all-in with Jaylen Brown move to win Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Celtics are in crunch time. Prior to the NBA Draft, the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes took a big turn. At first it was that Milwaukee Bucks star preferred to join the Miami Heat, now it seems like Brad Stevens and the front office in Massachusetts are throwing all their chips on the table. Jaylen Brown, the longest-tenured member of the 18-time NBA champions, is now publicly on the trading block.

Celtics go all-in for Antetokounmpo by offering Brown

During the morning of the NBA Draft, Brian Windhorst went ESPN's Get Up. The NBA insider stated that Celtics have 'firmly put Jaylen Brown' on the table to go all-in on landing Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Bucks. Notably, the trade talks surrounding Brad Stevens and the Greek Freak have primarily revolved on whether which player ends up having to leave the Celtics. Derrick White was a name that got mentioned a few times but it seems like the stakes got higher with the Heat and Pat Riley also making bids to get the former NBA MVP.

Apparently, this is also the first time ever that the Celtics have given serious thought of breaking up Jayson Tatum and Brown. These two have been with each other as arguably the best duo in the Atlantic Division and, maybe even, the Eastern Conference. Together, Brown and Tatum have led the Celtics to five Eastern Conference Finals appearances alongside an NBA championship back in 2024.

Brown has slowly increased his trade value too. Without Tatum for 2025-26, he still made the Celtics competitive due to his averages of 28.7 points on 47.7% field goal shooting, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. This got him 89 total points in the NBA MVP race which was good for sixth place behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, and Cade Cunningham.

Stevens surely wants to seal the deal before the NBA Draft because it will determine the trajectory of their offseason. The Brown-Antetokounmpo trade will definitely break the world of basketball but it also decides which players the Celtics re-sign, draft, and acquire to win Banner 19 as fast as possible.