Celtics actively pursue Jaylen Brown trade talks amid league interest

Portland has stayed in the Jaylen Brown chase as Boston keeps active trade talks alive, and the most realistic frame for a deal centers on Jrue Holiday, Jerami Grant and two future first-round picks. The Blazers have been described as actively and aggressively pursuing the Celtics’ All-Star forward, a sign that Joe Cronin is willing to move faster than a slow-build timetable would normally allow.

Brown is not a routine trade target. He signed a five-year supermax extension with Boston in July 2023 worth up to $303.7 million, a fully guaranteed deal that runs through the 2028-29 season and includes a trade kicker. He also carries championship weight: Brown was named the 2024 Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP after Boston won its 18th NBA title, and he averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the Finals against Dallas.

That price tag explains why Portland would need to lean on more than one veteran contract to make any blockbuster work. Holiday and Grant give the Trail Blazers movable salary, while the two future firsts would be the kind of draft compensation Boston has been said to want in any Brown discussion. Even so, a Brown acquisition would still force Portland to weigh the cost of gutting depth around a player who is entering his prime on one of the league’s largest contracts.

The Blazers’ interest also says plenty about where the franchise thinks it stands. Portland finished the 2025-26 season 42-40 and fourth in the Northwest Division, with a roster built around Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, Deni Avdija, Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday. That mix is good enough to suggest a step forward, but not necessarily enough to make the playoffs in the West without a true top-end scorer such as Brown.

Portland’s draft position adds another layer to the math. The Trail Blazers did not have a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft because of a prior obligation to Chicago, but resolving that conveyance cleared an old debt and could improve flexibility with future trade assets. That matters if Boston insists on draft capital as the centerpiece of a return. The Celtics’ failed Giannis Antetokounmpo pursuit has only intensified the speculation around Brown, and Portland’s pursuit now reads like a test of whether the Blazers are ready to pay to accelerate contention.