Jaylen Brown’s – As NBA free agency is set to open at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the Celtics’ biggest uncertainty isn’t a new target—it’s whether Jaylen Brown will still be in Boston. Calls are coming in, frustration is growing around the team’s approach, and front office options now
At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, NBA free agency opens. But in Boston, the loudest question isn’t which free agents the Celtics might chase next. It’s whether Jaylen Brown will still be here when the calendar flips.
Brown is the longest-tenured member of the roster, and he enters this stretch with three years remaining on his contract. Yet the buzz around the Celtics has kept circling back to him since last week’s failed pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee agreed to trade Antetokounmpo to the Heat in a deal centered on draft picks and young players—an outcome that ended Boston’s chase. Jaylen Brown was the centerpiece of Boston’s offer, but the saga didn’t end with that trade.
League sources say the Celtics have continued to field calls from teams interested in trading for Brown. One league source also said Brown has grown frustrated with the organization’s approach after a season in which he guided Boston to 56 wins while Jayson Tatum was sidelined for months with an Achilles injury.
That frustration has collided with a front office message that still stops short of certainty. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. last Tuesday night. stopped short of saying Brown would be on Boston’s roster next season. It remains unclear if the Celtics are urgently trying to move him or simply listening to offers as they come in. One league source said Brown could still return to the Celtics next season, even if uncomfortable conversations would happen first.
The Celtics’ tightrope is obvious: after missing out on Antetokounmpo. it becomes hard to imagine a Brown trade that wouldn’t force them to step back in the short term. If Boston trades Brown before free agency starts. a deal could offer a clearer view of how to supplement the roster immediately. If they don’t. they still keep options—because free agency is coming. and Stevens still has more moves available than he did just a few months ago.
Boston dipped below the luxury tax threshold, which means the Celtics now have access to the $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Stevens also reiterated last Tuesday that the Celtics were seeking to add a big man and a speedy guard.
Boston has been linked to free agents including Pelicans center Kevon Looney and Trail Blazers center Robert Williams, who spent his first five seasons with the Celtics before being traded in the 2023 deal that brought Jrue Holiday to Boston. The level of interest from the Celtics remains unclear.
Beyond free agency, the Celtics could also use their $27.7 million trade exception. That exception would allow them to take back up to that amount of salary in a trade without sending out a matching contract.
When it comes to the Celtics’ own roster picture, the market and the internal decisions are moving in parallel. Center Nikola Vucevic is the team’s lone unrestricted free agent. Vucevic was acquired from the Bulls last February. but missed a month after breaking a finger and never established a rhythm. A league source called a Vucevic return possible, but unlikely.
Boston also made decisions with its current contracts. On Monday. the Celtics exercised team options on the contracts of center Neemias Queta ($2.7 million). and forwards Jordan Walsh ($2.4 million) and Dalano Banton ($2.8 million). Queta. whose breakout season was a key factor in Boston’s success last season. is a good candidate for an extension. Banton is on a non-guaranteed deal.
At the same time, Boston declined some options on players still tied to the fringes. A league source said the Celtics are declining the team options for center Amari Williams and guard Max Shulga. rookies who were on two-way contracts last season. Both could still have opportunities to return—Williams in line for a second two-way contract. and Shulga positioned to potentially join Boston’s summer league roster.
The Celtics also officially declined the team option of guard Ron Harper Jr., but sources said the decision was tied to a plan to sign him to a three-year, $9 million contract that was agreed upon last week.
In the final stretch before free agency. everything about the Celtics’ offseason seems to narrow to one fork in the road: wait and see how the calls land for Brown. or use a Brown trade to reshape the roster sooner. Either way. Tuesday’s opening hour is close—and for a Celtics team that came off a season defined by resilience through injuries. the next conversation could decide more than just rotations. It could decide who stays, and who goes.
Jaylen Brown Celtics Brad Stevens Jayson Tatum free agency Giannis Antetokounmpo mid-level exception trade exception Nikola Vucevic Kevon Looney Robert Williams