The Celtics Offseason From Hell Continues As Jaylen Brown Entertains The Idea Of One Day Playing For The Atlanta Hawks

Maddie Malhotra. Getty Images.

Ever since May 12th, 2025, it's been nothing but disaster for Celtics fans around the world. What started with the franchise cornerstone popping his Achilles and potentially forever altering his career transitioned into the Celts losing a playoff series to the Knicks. From there, we had to live through the fire sale of all fire sales due to that asshole CBA and the 2nd apron, as we watched Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and Al Horford all depart the roster. For the first time in 10 years, the Celts were entering a "gap" or "reset" year, which isn't exactly where any fanbase wants to be considering the last time we saw them on a court, they were contending for an NBA title.

If that wasn't painful enough, we've also had to see Porzingis magically recover from his mystery illness and play at a level in EuroBasket that easily would have been the difference if the Celts got that version of KP in the Knicks series. That was fun.

So it's safe to say that the last 4ish months haven't exactly been all that great. I mean, I'm as pumped about the Hugo Gonzalez Era as anyone else, but considering I still can't watch a Jayson Tatum highlight or edit without wanting to put my head in an oven, things have certainly been better.

As a result of everything that's gone on this offseason, as the Celts enter this season, it's a big opportunity for the established vets on the roster to embrace new roles. Jaylen Brown is finally getting his shot to be the #1 option. Derrick White has to slide up and be an effective #2, Payton Pritchard is now starting. All the young unproven players like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman now need to produce at an NBA rotation level. There's reason to be excited for all that, since the next iteration of the roster sort of depends on those things working out.

You know what I don't need right now after everything we've experienced since May? This

Even if Jaylen is "technically" right in that you never know what can happen in the NBA, especially in this new CBA world, this is not exactly something I want to hear coming from the other cornerstone player and new #1 option for the 2025-26 Boston Celtics. In fact, I would go as far to say it's the exact opposite of what I would have liked to hear when he was asked that question.

Would it have killed him to not even entertain it and instead double and triple down about being a Celtic and only being focused on that? I don't even care if it was a lie, just give me the PR answer in this spot. There are only so many kicks to the dick a man can take, and even if this was all in fun, I didn't laugh once. I didn't find this fun at all. Usually, when Jaylen puts himself in these spots during media interviews, I'm able to shake it off as it's mostly whatever. The reaction you see is mostly Tatum stans losing their shit for reasons only they can tell you. Most of the time, the quotes are a nothing-burger.

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But this? This is different because there's a real possibility that something like this happens. If it's not the Hawks, it could be someone else. Given Jaylen is playing under supermax money, there's no guarantee Brad ultimately doesn't have to make hard decisions when it comes to the next iteration of the roster. Everything is on the table as we navigate this unknown world, so that's why this clip isn't so great. When something is actually plausible, I'd prefer not to joke about it.

Now, do the Hawks have the money available to make a trade like this happen? I'm not even going to look at their cap sheet right now to find out, because I am NOT putting that out into the universe. Nope. Not happening. I'm going to instead do my best to ignore that clip even exists, and instead focus on literally anything else. 

And as my final method of coping, I will be watching these on repeat all day. Thank you for understanding during this trying time