Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens addressed the Jaylen Brown trade for the first time Monday, defending the move as a means to increase the team’s financial flexibility.
“It was a really hard call,” Stevens said, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “I am not saying it was the right call. We wanted to stay good and wanted to add more optionality.”
Brown had three years remaining on the five-year, $285-million supermax deal he signed with Boston in 2023. Jayson Tatum is guaranteed similar amounts over the next three seasons; he’ll earn $58.4 million in 2026-27, while Brown will make $57.7 million. Stevens suggested that having both salaries on the Celtics’ books would have made it difficult for the team to remain a contender with “where the league was heading,” according to Youngmisuk.
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