Brad Stevens addresses Kevin Durant trade talks, being open with Jaylen Brown on rumors
BOSTON -- The Kevin Durant trade saga came to an end Tuesday, with the superstar now willing to move forward with the Brooklyn Nets after demanding a trade earlier this summer. Now life can go on for the rest of the NBA, especially here in Boston.
Durant trade rumors and speculation dominated the NBA offseason since the end of June. The Celtics were always at the forefront of those rumors, with Jaylen Brown's name being brought up at every turn. Now that the rumors are over -- at least, for now -- we'll find out if there is any lingering ill will from Brown toward the organization.
Celtics president of basketball ops. Brad Stevens addressed the Durant trade chatter during a Tuesday appearance on WEEI's Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, and said that he was always in contact with Brown to address any rumors the Celtics guard found himself involved in.
"Jaylen's been through this from the standpoint of listening and the noise has been around him for a long time, big names over the years. I think one of the things you have to be able to do is ignore the noise and know what's important," said Stevens. "Also, be able to reach out and have candid and transparent communications with the people involved. We've had those and been very open from the get-go as all of this has been going on for any of our guys."
Brown has been involved in several rumors throughout his career, from Jimmy Butler to Anthony Davis to Kawhi Leonard. Stevens said that he sat down with Brown last week in Los Angeles, and the guard will be back in Boston soon.
Based on what Stevens said about the Celtics' involvement in the Durant talks, Boston's interest in was merely exploratory. The Celtics have been pleased with their team since acquiring Malcolm Brogdon and signing Danilo Gallinari just ahead of Durant's request, and they are eager to go into the new season with this new group.
"Listen, at the end of the day I'm not going to go into any conversations that we had because I don't think that's appropriate," said Stevens. "But my job is to know what costs are and then ultimately determine whether or not we want to be involved in any deal with any team around the league.
"But since the Brogdon trade, we've felt really good about our team and we've felt really good about building around these guys that we've been building around, trying to accentuate our best players and we're excited to move forward with our team. That's really been our focus for a while here," he added.
While it has seemingly been a busy summer for the Celtics from a rumor standpoint, Stevens said that has not been the case.
"You say it's been busy and there's been a lot of talk, but it hadn't been for me," he said. "Hopefully it gives everyone something to talk about, but it's been pretty quiet on our front for a while now."
