Celtics

NBA insider names Spurs as closest team to watch for in potential Jaylen Brown trade. What could possible deal look like?

The Spurs have plenty to offer in draft capital, including the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Jaylen Brown's name hasn't been excluded from trade rumors so far. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

June 7, 2025

5 minutes to read

The Celtics are in the early stages of an offseason of uncertainty, with the majority of their players being bandied about as possible trade targets.

Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday have been at the forefront of possible trade rumours surrounding Celtics players. Derrick White has also been floated as a possibility, too.

Even Jaylen Brown’s name hasn’t been safe from trade speculation as the Celtics potentially look to clear some salary cap with Jayson Tatum’s status for the entirety of the 2025-26 season in question. If the Celtics opt to go down that road with Brown, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix believes a team on the rise in the Western Conference could be a potential suitor.

“The team I’d watch the closest with Jaylen Brown is probably the Spurs,” Chris Mannix said on NBC Sports Boston’s “The Off-Season.“ “Sure, I think [the Spurs would] love to make a run at Giannis [Antetokounmpo], but do the Bucks ask for Stephon Castle? Like, is that on their wish list? And if it is, I can’t see San Antonio doing a deal like that.”

As Mannix alluded to, the Spurs have been linked to some of the top stars who could be on the trade market, such as Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant, as they seek to make the playoffs with emerging star Victor Wembanyama entering his third season. However, the 28-year-old Brown might fit the Spurs’ timeline for competing more than Antetokounmpo or Durant as he’s the youngest of the three.

“One of the concerns people in San Antonio told me about is, you go and deal for a guy like Giannis, all of a sudden you’ve created a championship window, but it is a window with a closing date,” Mannix said. “You’ve got De’Aaron Fox, who’s in his late 20s, Giannis in his early 30s, and the last thing they want is to have a roster after those guys kind of age out where when Wembanyama is maybe looking around going, ‘Alright, where are the young guys I’m going to play with after that?’”

Brown, a four-time All-Star, would give the Spurs a high-level option on the perimeter that they’ve lacked since they traded Kawhi Leonard in 2018. After winning Finals MVP in 2024, Brown followed that up by averaging 22.2 points (which would’ve been second on the Spurs), 5.8 rebounds (which would’ve been third on the Spurs), and 4.5 assists per game (which also would’ve been third on the Spurs) in 2024-25.

So, trading Brown, who would be the only All-NBA player on San Antonio’s roster, to San Antonio would likely land Boston a considerable haul of players. However, if Castle, who won Rookie of the Year this past season, is unavailable for an Antetokounmpo trade, Mannix pondered what a potential Brown-to-San Antonio deal would look like.

“I think if you’re Boston, you’re not going to ask for a Stephon Castle. You’re not going to get a Stephon Castle in a potential Jaylen Brown deal,” Mannix said. “You would get the No. 2 pick back in return. You would get the Devin Vassells, the Keldon Johnsons, future first-round capital. That’s something I’d watch if and when the Giannis Antetokounmpo stuff shakes itself out over the next few weeks.”

From a salary standpoint, the Spurs are roughly $11 million below the salary cap entering the offseason. So, they can absorb Brown’s five-year, $285.3 million contract (which has a $53.1 million salary for the 2025-26 season), which would allow the Celtics to help clear some salary to potentially get under the second luxury tax apron.

But San Antonio would still have to send out some salary in order to make the deal work. In the scenario Mannix mentioned, in which the Spurs would give up Vassell, Johnson, and the No. 2 overall pick for Brown, the Celtics would shed $8.6 million in cap space. However, that doesn’t include the salary of the potential No. 2 overall pick if the Celtics were to keep it. Regardless of who the Celtics would pick in his scenario, the No. 2 overall pick is projected to earn $12.3 million for the 2025-26 season. So, Boston would actually add nearly $4 million in salary after such a trade.

There are a few ways Boston could avoid adding salary in a potential Brown-to-San Antonio deal. It could opt to re-route one of Vassell or Johnson in this proposed scenario, offloading either player to the team that has cap space to absorb either of their salaries. Vassell, who is entering the second year of a five-year, $135 million deal, has a $27 million salary for the 2025-26 season. Johnson, who is entering the third season of a four-year, $74 million deal, is set to earn $17.5 million next season.

The Celtics and Spurs could also wait until later in the offseason to make the deal involving Brown. If so, they would have to wait until at least a month after the No. 2 overall pick signs his contract. But there is a scenario where the Celtics could receive Vassell, whoever the Spurs take with the No. 2 overall pick, and Julian Champagnie for Brown and shed roughly $10 million in salaries.

The Spurs could also trade Fox and a smaller salary for Brown to help the Celtics clear some salary. However, trading an All-Star point guard in Fox for Brown would seem to go against what the Spurs would be trying to accomplish in such a deal. San Antonio also just traded for Fox in February, giving up three first-round picks in that deal

Vassell and Johnson certainly wouldn’t be the best players to headline a package for an All-Star player. Neither of them has been an All-Star like Brown and they aren’t that much younger than him, either. Vassell, a guard who’ll turn 25 in August, averaged 16.3 points (down from 19.5 the year prior), four rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game this past season, which was his fifth in the NBA. He also shot 44.3 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from deep, starting in 53 of the 64 games he played in

Johnson, meanwhile, played off the bench in 2024-25 as his numbers continued to take a dip from the 2022-23 season, in which he scored 22 points per game. The sixth-year small forward averaged 12.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game this past season, shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from deep.

So, to help mitigate the talent difference in a potential Brown trade, the Spurs could tap into their treasure chest of draft capital. They also have the No. 14 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, along with their second-round pick (No. 38 overall).

In terms of future draft capital, San Antonio holds its own first-round pick all but one year (2027) through 2031. It has some rights to pick swaps that could be valuable, too. The Spurs can swap first-round picks with the Hawks in 2026. They can also swap first-round picks with the Celtics in 2028 thanks to the Derrick White deal, unless Boston gets the No. 1 overall pick in that draft. They’ll also receive the most favorable first-round pick between them, the Mavericks, and Timberwolves in 2030. Additionally, San Antionio owns Atlanta’s first-round pick for the 2027 NBA Draft, which has no protections.

As we’ve seen in recent years, most trades involving star players have seen the team trading that player receive at least a few first-round picks in those deals. So, it isn’t inconceivable to think that the Celtics would be able to land the No. 2 pick and a couple of other first-round picks for Brown.

Still, trading Brown in the midst of his prime could be too tough of a pill to swallow for the Celtics, especially if the best assets they’d receive in a potential deal with the Spurs are rookies and future picks.