Celtics exploring potential acquisition of Giannis without including Jaylen

The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn chimes in on the Giannis Antetokounmpo to Boston rumors:
I don't think the Celtics realistically have any plans to team Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Giannis Antetokounmpo up together. They'd have to gut their roster and trade as many first round picks as allowed and would then have three players taking up $200 million of their cap space and no means to surround them with the rest of the rotation.

We're not talking the same CBA as when Boston acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. If you are going to have a Big 3 at least one of them in the modern NBA has to be a non-max player. Even back when LeBron and Bosh joined forces with Wade that was only possible because all three left money on the table. Giannis and Jaylen aren't going to sign extensions with Boston for a major discount.

And if you think Jaylen prefers being the man on the team as opposed to sharing the spotlight with another star or being the second guy, how do you think he would respond to being the 3rd guy? If for some crazy reason Boston was able to aquire Giannis without including a Jay in the deal, one of them would subsequently be traded before the offseason was over.

Giannis needs the ball in his hands and so does Tatum and Brown. Again comparing to 2008 this isn't a situation where you have one star in Garnett who's in the post and another in Allen who is a spot up shooter. Giannis, Tatum, and Brown are all ball dominant stars.


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