A Wednesday report suggested the Celtics have offered Jaylen Brown a four-year, $80MM contract extension and that the young swingman passed on that offer in search of a more lucrative deal. Appearing on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston on Thursday, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge referred to that report as “not accurate,” though he declined to offer any real specifics on the team’s talks with Brown.
“We are working to come to some result by Monday as our deadline, and the negotiations have gone well,” the Celtics’ top decision-maker said, per Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “It’s just not an accurate report, that’s all. We’ve given him numerous offers. We’ve been negotiating for a little while. So, that’s all.”
Shams Charania of The Athletic wrote earlier today that multiple teams are watching the Celtics’ negotiations with Brown closely, since the soon-to-be-23-year-old would be a prime candidate for a big offer sheet if he reaches restricted free agency next summer. However, Ainge said that neither Brown nor the C’s are “too stressed” about the situation, as Forsberg notes.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- After assuming most of the scoring and play-making responsibilities in Charlotte, Kemba Walker is enjoying playing on a Celtics team that has players capable of sharing that burden, writes John Karalis of MassLive.com. “It takes a lot of pressure off me,” Walker said earlier this week. “I’m getting a lot of different shots as well, but I’m loving it, not having to do so much all the time. Hopefully my usage rate might be going down a little bit. It allows other guys to make plays and I can appreciate that for sure.”
- The Bulls officially named offseason free agent addition Tomas Satoransky their starting point guard this week, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago details. Satoransky beat our fourth-year guard Kris Dunn, who is entering a contract year. However, Dunn is staying positive as he prepares for a reserve role, Johnson writes in a separate NBC Sports Chicago story.
- After signing an extension with the Raptors this week, Kyle Lowry said that both sides “worked extremely hard to get it done” and that he’s glad to remain in the place he wanted to be. GM Bobby Webster, meanwhile, said working out a new deal with Lowry before opening night was always the goal. “You don’t want to go into seasons with anything hanging over the team,” Webster said. “We knew it was something that was really important to him and it was really important to us“ (Twitter links via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca).
- Al-Farouq Aminu‘s new teammates in Orlando have been raving about his versatility, work ethic, and ability to adapt quickly to the Magic‘s system, writes John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com. Aminu was the team’s big offseason addition, signing a three-year contract worth nearly $30MM.
I don’t understand the hype on Jaylen Brown
He’s a SF that’s now a SG and he’s not even the best SG on his team. For me you compare him to Marcus Smart,
Smart is a better passer, better defender, better leader and he’s got a really good contract. Brown is a better shooter but his percentages haven’t improved since he’s entered the league, Smart has gone from a 37-34-65 to last year a 42-37-80. That makes him better at the line and almost better from 3.
You offer Brown 20 mil a year for 4 years and he says no, well I’d say bye bye then. I’d rather have (and start) Marcus Smart who’s got loads of passion for the Celtics and is the better player. Jaylen has huge value around the league and instead of him taking up so much of your salary cap space use him to fill your teams other needs.
The Celtics have a huge hole at PF/C for a leader on defence like what they had in Horford. You already know that come playoffs your going to need someone tho mark Embid, Giannas, Griffin, Durant and so on in the Eastern conference.
turns down 20mill per yr? trade him because he’s not worth more