Well, that made a few things more clear.
Brad Stevens' press conference on 7/6 ran for roughly an hour and answered many of the questions that the Boston media and fans shared.
The biggest question? WHY?
Well, I thought Brad clarified that well. Brad said that when the Celtics won their championship in 2024, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown made up 47% of the salary cap, and last season they made up 70% of the cap. He spoke about how difficult he felt it would be to win a championship with two players taking up 70% of the salary cap while also carrying such a high usage rate. He looked at the landscape in the Eastern Conference and decided that he needed to fundamentally restructure the roster. He said multiple times that he believed Jaylen Brown was a special player, but evidently not special enough to justify taking up that much of the salary cap.
Brad also made it clear that he did not think Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could succeed together in the Eastern Conference under the current CBA. Due to the restrictions the current CBA put in place, they became extremely limited with their roster construction. Brad desired more freedom and "optionality" in building his roster. One issue with this is that the player the Celtics traded for, Paul George, also takes up a significant amount of cap space and has only one fewer year remaining on his contract. In my opinion, he could become a player who is available to move next season on an expiring deal, potentially packaged with draft picks to upgrade the roster.
Brad Stevens took full responsibility for the trade. He denied that Jayson Tatum had any say in the deal, saying he had zero input whatsoever. He also said there was no directive from ownership to trade Jaylen Brown. This decision came solely from the Celtics' front office and Brad Stevens. Celtics owner Bill Chisholm said it took a while for him to be convinced they should trade Jaylen Brown, and ultimately he trusted Brad and his front office staff.
They repeatedly referenced that this trade was not exclusively about finances. Financially, in the sense that they weren't simply trying to shed salary. They will pay roughly the same amount this season with Paul George on the roster. However, it was about financial flexibility. They felt stuck with Jaylen Brown's contract and made it clear that they believed they could not build a championship team with Tatum and Brown together taking up that much of the salary cap.
Personally, I wish they could have kept Tatum and Brown together, but I understand the argument that Brad Stevens put forth. It's even more disappointing that the NBA now has such restrictive salary cap rules with so little wiggle room for franchises that draft and develop homegrown stars.
Ultimately, do you trust Brad?
– Scott