Trading Jaylen Brown for Giannis Would Be Ridiculous

Last thing for you, I want to get your take on the Giannis sweepstakes, which, uh, has kicked off in earnest this week.

ESPN reporting that the Bucks are open for business on Giannis, which every team in the league knew at this point.

You had, uh, Jimmy Haslam, the co-owner of the team, telling reporters recently that this would be resolved by the NBA draft.

So that puts about a 6-week clock on.

Giannis, teams to make offers, the Bucks decide what offer they're going to take.

And look, you can't, you can't understate or can't overstate just how important this decision is for Milwaukee.

If you get this right, You can wind up like Oklahoma City with Paul George, uh, Boston with Pierson Garnett, and have like this ready-made rebuilding package, good to go for the future that can set you up for the next 10 years.

If you get it wrong, like say Dallas with Luka Dacic, you'd be at the mercy, mercy of the lottery gods in rebuilding and people will be talking about how crappy your trade was for a generation.

Um, I think there's gonna be a lot of teams, Evan, that are calling.

A lot of teams.

We know the ones that were active before the deadline.

I'm talking about Golden State, Minnesota, Miami.

I think those three teams will once again be in the mix, especially as Minnesota is about to get knocked out or it looks like they're about to get knocked out.

Um, but I think the field expands after that.

I think Atlanta is an interesting team to watch, uh, I, I think Orlando might be a team to watch.

Houston is a team to watch.

I think there could be half a dozen or more teams that are aggressively trying to land Giannis, which for the Bucks is great.

You want as many suitors as you possibly can to try to play them all off each other.

But as you look at this, the landscape out there, uh, what makes the most sense here?

Like we know Giannis is not gonna go to like, I don't know.

Pick, pick the name of it.

He's not going to Sacramento, all right?

He's not going to play there.

He's gonna have a voice in this because he only has one guaranteed year left in his contract.

But what's the, what's the situation that you think makes the most sense for Giannis moving forward?

I don't, I don't, I don't like to see a duo because we've already seen it, but I think if they wanted some good pieces, I think Portland has a lot of good young pieces that might be able to get traded back where you're like, yeah, I'll take a shade and Sharp, hey, maybe I'll even take a, you know what I'm saying?

They also, and the Portland stuff to to add to that, they also have.

Some draft capital from Milwaukee as part of that Drew Holiday trade.

So if you're the Bucks, that's appealing too, because if you're gonna suck, you might as well get your own draft picks, right?

So that, that's, but do you think that, I mean, I, I, I didn't put them on my list because like why, why does Giannis, like why would he want to go there?

Not that it's a bad city or a bad situation, but you're even.

With Giannis and Dame, like we did kind of see that .

Yeah, we've already seen it.

And, and you're in the West now, and you're playing in the Western Conference.

Yeah, I was just thinking about like for the sake of Milwaukee, I wasn't really thinking about Giannis.

I was just like, if we were to trade and you were thinking about like, hey, this might be a rebuild, ready team, what young group of guys would I want?

And I feel like Obviously, I wouldn't want to see Damon Giannis again, but I would say, yo, that there's a lot of young guys that you can make a lot, a lot with and rebuild in that east.

A couple of those dudes went crazy this year in the West and made it to To the, to the Western Conference playoffs.

So imagine what, you know, a a core of a solid 3 would do in the east because you go get a Shayden Sharp, you know what I'm saying?

Maybe you'll get a Scoot Henderson, maybe I I don't, I wouldn't do it, but maybe even throw Denny in there, and now you have a solid 3 to go over there and you go up and down the east and it's like, yo, we at least have a top 16 team.

I could see that, that's the only way I can really see going.

I would want, I don't know, Houston would be decent, but I wouldn't want to see like Katie and Giannis together.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I'm not excited to see Giannis go anywhere.

In this grand scheme of things because the The team is going to take his identity because you're gonna have to give up so much, and he plays such a sophisticated way .

And we're talking about championship contender, that team is going to have to be built like the Milwaukee Bucks when they won.

I don't think the supporting cast of the Bucks get enough credit for how great they were to be able to play with Giannis.

You basically had 4 shooters, she's shooting and doing whatever they needed to do while Giannis tried to figure out and develop.

Being a playmaker in real time, you know, what do you think?

So let , let's look at this Portland situation because to get Giannis, um, and there's more to it, you're probably talking about Shayden Sharp.

You're talking about Jeremy Grant's contract, uh, maybe they want Tumani Kamara as well.

They certainly want all their draft capital back from the holiday deal and, and maybe they, they've, they've got a, this is what it's gonna take though to get Giannis because.

Look, Golden State showed before the deadline, they're willing to give up all their draft picks.

They've got Draymond Green's contract, some other stuff they can throw in.

Um, you're gonna have to give something.

So the question then becomes, Does Drew Holiday, Dame Scoot, because I don't think, I don't see Milwaukee really wanting Scoot Henderson.

He, he, he definitely took himself out of the bust category this year, but as a guy like me, you still don't, if you gotta take it, like, you know what I mean, as a guy that used to be like, all right, I understand if you don't want me and you have to take me, but yeah, it's still like, man, you, you 3 or 4 more years, but, you know that.

You're in a position where you're gonna average 11, 4 and 4 for your career, you know, yeah, um, like, so does that team, Holiday, Dame.

Uh Denny, Klingon, Giannis.

Like, what does that team do?

Like, how good is that team?

I mean, I, they're a playoff team in the West.

I don't put them above Oklahoma City, San Antonio.

I mean, Denver, we'll see what happens this offseason, but I'd probably put them above them right now.

Uh, you know, the Lakers with a healthy Lucas, I'm revamping this offseason.

You know, I, I don't know, I mean, It feels like a team that has a ceiling because Dame's in his mid-30s, Giannis is in his early 30s, like Denny's still young, but I don't know.

I don't know, man, that.

It's definitely tough.

I, I, I, I went from a position it's like what would help the Bucks in a rebuild and who has some shit where it's like nobody gets fired after it, like giving 5 1st round picks from McKale Bridges, like, do you know what I mean?

All because there was a hot New York article where he became the hottest thing walking for 2 months, you know what I'm saying?

I think uh But I just don't.

What about Dallas?

They don't have really any good.

No, they're not.

They're not.

They're just, they're too young and just starting a rebuild.

The teams that make sense are the veteran teams like Miami, if they can get enough together to do a deal, would make some sense.

Houston, if they get because they made this deal with Kevin where they're, you know, they're now on a timeline with Kevin, uh, Durant, whether you admit it down there or not , they would make some sense.

Um, I don't know about Orlando.

Like you're gonna wave the white flag on Paolo now?

Like, do you, or do you cross your fingers and say this was just kind of an aberration year and you can get back on that ascent, you know, with a new coach, uh , next year.

I don't know if I'd do that if I'm Orlando because they're, they got a bunch of guys that are 25 and younger too.

So they might be on a, a different timeline there.

Like Golden, like the Lakers.

Is there like an Austin Reeves deal there that makes sense involving Giannis?

If you're the Bucks, do you take that?

Like you'd want more draft capital.

Like this is a tricky one.

This is a tricky one, bro.

I, I think also too, when it comes down to the success meter, I think the only person that could be successful with them is probably Steph Curry.

And and it wouldn't matter.

It's just like, hey, do what you do, and this is what we know about Steph Curry being like, I can do anything on the court.

It does, it does not matter because when you sit there, Giannis has to play a certain way.

He he's gonna be ball dominant, obviously, you can try to make him play.

As like, you know, uh, uh, an athletic big and set the screens and roll, but he's still gonna want to ball handle, dribble, he's gonna need shooters around him, so when you sit there, you might have to be, not in a weird way, but there's only so many struces out there where uh where they can somewhat defend.

You're gonna be dealing with Sam Merrills on the court half the time.

And you know, the Pat Connaughton's back in the day aren't going to exist as much in this day and age with because 3&D's are so frugal.

You have to really have to build around them and I believe that Scheff would be like, hey, we can play off each other and that's the best bet.

Yeah, I think that would make a lot of sense.

Um, and you're on the right timeline there trying to maximize 2, maybe 3 years in Golden State.

Steve Kerr now coming back, that's a, uh, certainly a positive for Golden State as well.

Uh, that would make some sense.

The team, uh, a team that doesn't make sense to me is, is Boston.

Like, there's a lot of noise around Giannis in Boston right now.

A lot of this has to do with the chatter involved with Jalen Brown.

Uh, I would not trade Jalen Brown for Gianin Deumpo, straight up.

I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't do it.

Jalen Brown's coming off the best year of his professional career.

He is 29 years old.

He is durable.

Now, if you're gonna tell me on paper, Giannis is better than Jalen Brown.

OK, I'll buy that.

And if you're gonna tell me that the Celtics need to spend more capital on players that can play at the rim, I'd buy that too.

I think they're too 3-point line dependent.

But 2 years ago, You won a championship in Boston with Jalen Brown as the conference finals MVP and finals MVP.

You've got a player that has proven over nearly a decade that he is an ideal complimentary piece to Jayson Tatum.

Those two guys in their 20s.

are on the exact same timeline.

To me, if the Celtics reacted to this season, which was an out of nowhere season, a 56 win season that no one saw coming, if the reaction to this season and the disappointing playoff exit is to swap Jalen Brown for Giannis Tendakopo.

Crazy.

And I don't think the Celtics are that crazy.

I don't think Brad Stevens is that crazy.

Jalen Brown, a lot of this stuff that's happened over the last week, there's been a lot of self-inflicted wounds there.

Like the Twitch stream, Jalen Brown did that himself.

Tracy McGrady, his friend, said what he said on his own.

Like this, this really wasn't the media that started all this this time.

But Jalen Brown has shown me.

That he is a great player that can win a championship and complement your other great player.

It would be the height of insanity to react to this season by flipping Jalen Brown for Giannis, who, by the way, is battling years of soft tissue injuries, years that have cost him the end of seasons.

So you cannot sit there and say Giannis at 31, 32 years old, whatever he is right now.

Uh, you can't sit there and say that.

with certainty that he's going to be healthy moving forward.

Jalen Brown has shown you something.

I think you, you ride with that .

You upgrade around, around the fringes if you're Boston.

You use your trade exception, you get a big man.

Use your draft picks to get somebody else.

This team is not far off a championship.

I would argue in the next couple of years, this team has the best chance of beating a Western Conference team.

Than anybody else in the Eastern Conference because they have weaknesses, but those weaknesses are upgradable.

They've got the flexibility to do all that.

So I, I think it would be the height of insanity to, to, I wouldn't trade Jalen Brown for anybody right now.

I wouldn't trade him for anyone that is out there and available .

This guy can play.

This guy's on the right team.

Trading him would be nuts.

You, you wouldn't want to go against them.

And like you said, Giannis, the soft tissue injuries, even when you sit there and comprehend how he has to play, but I want to go back to Jayson Tatum as well.

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but Before he got hurt and then even just as of recently, a lot of his games have become 25, 13, 7 or 8.

You know what I mean?

Like, he's been hitting the the board super heavy and he's been developing into a high assist man.

If you want to do that, and I think sometimes narratives are so crazy, but I saw it not too long ago and people are like, last year they were like, yo, you say what you want, but his numbers are starting to look like LeBron-esque and like There's dominance like LeBrons, so like you don't need to go get another Giannis cause you have, you, you basically have, you already have another scoring level of Giannis, it's just the dominance is way more smoother.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

And Jalen Brown's a dog.

Like even when we go further into this conversation, being like, yo, this is self-inflicted, like.

I wanna just bow down to the big dog to a certain extent and be like, hey Chris, you shut the fuck up, I shut the fuck up.

Like Jalen's like, you know what, I can pop my shit.

I can say whatever I want, and you know what, I shouldn't have to worry about being traded cause you wanna know why it's my shit.

You feel what I'm saying?

Like, and it's not like crazy, it's just like, man, he's, we'd be forgetting like how unreal he is, like he's The, the numbers alone, the accolades alone, what him and Jason have been able to do alone, we somewhat take it for granted, being like, wait, this is the first time they haven't made it to like the Eastern Conference Finals.

Like, and they're not even like, they're just entering their prime it's, oh yeah, like when you sit and talk to them, even with Jason, it's not a Oh man, I hope we win or da da da da da.

It's like, yeah, no, Brad will get it together, but bro, I'm, I'm like, are you like us not winning is crazy.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, these are two confident individuals and being like, yo, go take your best, but it's gonna take 7 of you to take out me and Jalen.

And, and, and, and Peyton's that confident.

You know what I mean, Joe's that confident, but it's like, hey, good luck, man, find another two, this is good , but we're gonna find some others, and once we get a few others, it's over, bro.

Like, Jason and them just, they just want to see OKC.

They just want to see the Spurs.

They haven't gotten to them.

They just want like, let, let us figure it out and then we'll show it.

Yeah, played great against both teams in the regular season.

I, I was in the, the lottery drawing room in Chicago on Sunday, and you have a lot of time in that room.

Without your phone, talking to different executives and I spent some time talking to them about the end for Boston.

And I heard from multiple people the same kind of thing, like, it's more of a surprise to them that the Celtics won 56 games with that team than it was them getting beat in the first round because the flaws were there.

The flaws were obvious.

Like Vusovich did not solve the problem.

With the front line.

Um, they don't have guys that go to the rim like they did in 2024.

Like Tatum, because of the injury, was not going to the rim with the same kind of, you know, force that he did during his non-injured seasons.

Like, it, it, it wasn't a, To these people, it wasn't a huge shock that they got beat that early in the postseason.

It just reinforces that you've got to address these needs.

Like if you just address these needs with some kind of downhill playing guard, somebody that can get to the rim, uh, more, more, just generally more in that front line, somebody on that front line, and they've got the ability to do it.

They've got a trade exception worth $27 million.

Like, Spend it.

You got under the luxury tax or under the, uh, the apron this year.

Spend it.

Use it.

Go get some guys.

Um, this team is not far off.

They're not far off.

And I think what would, would push them further might be trading Jalen Brown because then if you do the Giannis swap, then you're counting on Giannis to, to play like the MVP.

For the next 3 years, and I don't know if you can count on that anymore.

I don't.

I think the injuries have got to be terrifying for teams that are looking at acquiring him, especially Boston, which would have to give up a real player in return.

In respect to Giannis, he's a blue collar type of dude.

What he's able to do is rare and how he's able to do it is super rare, and it's like, bro, he has to rely on his body to, to be Giannis.

It's not like he's relying on his skill set.

Obviously you could short roll him, but he, he's, he's almost like a, Gerald Wallace, like crash, he's going to do the hits, he's going to make it a physical rough game, and he's going to, you know what I mean, always try to draw a line, but you're right, Jalen Brown is one of those ones and uh You know, you'd be hard pressed to, you know, find something like him again mentality-wise.

Like I said, you could go get a Paul George or you, you know, you can go get somebody that's talented, but they might show up and their their mentality is the same.

What makes Jalen Brown great is Jalen Brown's mentality is heart.

What makes Giannis great is his heart, what makes Jayson Tatum great is his heart.

Everybody in the NBA is talented, it's how they show up, the capacity and and and the number one thing that we forget too.

You know, they they say can they play together, but how they're able to play together and both still average high 25 and not really have any problems in that sense is is beautiful.

It would be hard to find others that are willing to adjust to that or be able to check their ego to a certain extent.

I agree.

I agree.

I think that's a smart play.

Building around these guys is a smart play.

And I think that's probably on the Celtics' mind as well.

Unless Jalen Brown forces the issue and says, I want to go, and he's on record saying he wants to play in Boston for 10 more years.

Um, I, I don't see any need to, to break up, uh, this duo.