Jaylen Brown listed as probable vs. 76ers, which will hopefully quash those pesky trade rumors

BOSTON -- Jaylen Brown landing on the Celtics' injury report just ahead of Monday night's win over the Pistons created quite the stir. It happened just hours after Brown was once again thrown into Kevin Durant trade "rumors" -- this time by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith -- and some people had a hard time believing that Brown really had an illness.

Hopefully those conspiracy theorists had some fun while they could. Because Brown is listed as probable for Wednesday night's tilt against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.

That should squash those pesky "rumors" that just won't seem to go away. Brown had to endure a summer's worth of pundits throwing him into a Durant trade that never happened, and those rumblings reared their ugly head again Monday when Smith just kind of threw Brown's name out there.

The Durant trade talks flared up again over the last few days after the Nets sent an unhappy Kyrie Irving to Dallas, though the Nets are reportedly telling teams that they plan on keeping their superstar forward. The NBA trade deadline is now just a day away -- Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. -- and deals involving superstars tend to take a little bit longer to come together.

Does this mean Brown's name won't be thrown into the Durant fray again this offseason -- assuming Durant does indeed stay in Brooklyn after Thursday's deadline? No. Not at all. It seems like Brown will be mentioned in KD trade rumors until the two-time MVP retires.

But for now, Brown can focus on a key matchup against Joel Embiid and the 76ers on Wednesday night.