The non-Jaylen Brown trade Celtics must make after whiffing on Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Boston Celtics recently missed out on the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sweepstakes after the star was dealt from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat. The Celtics had publicly dangled Jaylen Brown in trade packages prior to that, which could lead to a bit of an awkward situation between the two sides moving forward.

However, even if the Celtics and Brown make amends and continue their relationship, moves still clearly need to be made in order to get Boston back into championship contention.

With that said, here’s one move the Celtics should seriously consider this summer.

The Celtics should target Jamal Murray

The Denver Nuggets are in some ways the Western Conference counterpart to the Celtics, a team that won a championship in the last few years but is now looking to retool after an embarrassing first-round exit in the playoffs. In the Nuggets’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, their lack of athleticism and perimeter defense was a glaring issue, and Jamal Murray didn’t do much to solve either issue. Combine that with an ill-timed cold streak that he suffered during that series, and Denver is seemingly as willing as ever to explore trade options regarding Nikola Jokic’s longtime running mate.

Enter the Celtics, who chose the “die” option in the “live by the three, die by the three” mantra in their first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers, and were hampered all year by a lack of consistent point guard play. Murray would bring elite shotmaking and capability as a floor general, both of which were flashed by Anfernee Simons in his brief stint in Boston before he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in a Nikola Vucevic deal that backfired severely. The perimeter defense and athleticism concerns that hampered Denver would not be as big of an issue for Murray in Boston alongside Brown and Jayson Tatum.

In return, the Celtics would almost assuredly have to part ways with at least Derrick White, who suffered through a brutal shooting season in 2025-26 but remains an elite defender, which would certainly help the Nuggets, who would be banking on him to rediscover his shooting touch playing alongside Jokic. White would also be back in his home state of Colorado if such a move were to go through.

Boston likely didn’t envision big changes coming this offseason during the 2025-26 campaign, but blowing a 3-1 lead in the first round certainly qualifies as a desperate time, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

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