The Boston Celtics have reportedly looked into whether it is possible to land Giannis Antetokounmpo without giving up Jaylen Brown, but any path to that deal would be expensive, complicated, and entirely dependent on whether Milwaukee want to reshape their future.
The idea surfaced after Boston were said to be gauging what it would take to land Antetokounmpo while keeping Brown out of the package.
That matters because Antetokounmpo remains a Milwaukee Bucks player, is still tied to a major contract situation, and has publicly said he would not demand a trade.
This is not a prediction that the Bucks will move him. It is a look at what a Brown-less Celtics framework would probably need to include if Boston wanted to make the conversation serious.
What a Brown-less Celtics trade package for Giannis could look like
The cleanest mock construction starts with a simple reality. If Brown is not in the trade, Boston would have to make the offer painful somewhere else.
A theoretical framework could start with another major Boston salary, premium draft compensation and pick swaps. It may also need a third team if the Celtics cannot legally or practically shape the salary in a direct two-team deal.
That is where the deal becomes difficult. Brown’s salary would naturally help Boston get close to Antetokounmpo’s number, but keeping him means the Celtics would need to find another way to satisfy the salary-matching problem.
A mock trade could therefore look something like this in broad terms: Boston sends a large veteran contract, one or more useful rotation players where rules allow, multiple future first-round picks and swaps, while Milwaukee receives enough salary, control and draft value to consider a reset.
The important word is consider. There is no verified reporting that Milwaukee would accept that structure, and there is no verified trade request from Antetokounmpo.
The point of the framework is not to claim the deal is close. It is to show the level of cost Boston would likely face if it truly wanted Antetokounmpo and Brown on the same roster.
Why keeping Jaylen Brown makes the deal much harder for Boston
Brown is central to this discussion because he is not only one of Boston’s best players. He is also one of Boston’s clearest salary-matching paths in any superstar trade.
His five-year supermax extension gives the Celtics a huge contract that can be used in major trade math. Removing that from the equation keeps Boston stronger on the floor, but makes the transaction harder to build.
That is the central tension. Keeping Brown would preserve the Jayson Tatum and Brown wing foundation, while adding Antetokounmpo would create one of the league’s most imposing star groups.
It would also force Boston to sacrifice depth, flexibility and draft control elsewhere. Under the current apron system, teams at the top of the payroll face restrictions that can limit salary aggregation, incoming salary and future trade tools.
That makes a Brown-less mock trade narrow rather than simple. The Celtics can ask the question, but the answer probably involves a package that is larger and less comfortable than fans would prefer.
Milwaukee’s position also matters. Antetokounmpo is still the franchise player, still under contract, and still on record saying he will not force his way out.
For Boston, that means any Brown-less scenario has to be framed as due diligence rather than momentum. The Celtics can explore it, and they should understand the math, but keeping Brown while acquiring Antetokounmpo would require far more than a clever mock trade.
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