Jaylen Brown Called Celtics' Jayson Tatum, Stevens over Kevin Durant Trade Rumors

When the Boston Celtics made inroads on a potential Kevin Durant trade last offseason, Jaylen Brown called two key people with the organization to get some clarity on his situation.

Per The Ringer's Logan Murdock, Brown made a three-way call to Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Jayson Tatum to discuss the trade speculation.

"[KD] and JT are friends. They was working out together and whatnot," Brown said. "So, I wasn't sure what the energy was. I wasn't sure what the direction of the organization was."

Stevens gave Brown assurances he wasn't going anywhere and told Murdock what he said on the phone call: "You just have to have a direct conversation. And you just have to be able to say, 'This is what's real. This is where we are. Obviously, you and Jayson are the two guys that we've built the whole roster around. And our every expectation is for us to come and compete together and try to be two games better than we were last year.'"

After Durant made his initial trade request to the Brooklyn Nets, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported on July 25 the Celtics at one point offered Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick to Brooklyn.

According to Charania, the Nets rejected the proposal because they wanted Brown, Marcus Smart, draft picks and potentially one more rotation player in a deal for Durant.

Durant wound up rescinding his trade request before the start of the regular season after a meeting with Nets management.

Brown explained that after the phone call, everyone "left on the same page" since they were able to talk things through.

"But the actions that was taking place during that time, it just didn't seem like that was the direction that the organization was going in. I don't know," the Celtics forward told Murdock. "It was hard to tell, at least."

Leading up to the trade deadline, there were once again rumblings that Brown might be part of an offer for Durant.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said on the Feb. 6 episode of First Take that Boston had been "making some calls" about Durant and Brown was a name to "keep an eye on" in those discussions (starts at :35 mark).

Durant wound up being traded to the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 9.

Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck revealed during a Feb. 17 appearance on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show that he told Brown personally before the trade deadline that he was "not going anywhere."

Brown has often been the subject of trade speculation throughout his career. The 26-year-old would certainly bring back a significant return to Boston as a two-way wing player in the prime of his career.

Losing Brown from the lineup, though, would create a significant void for the Celtics to fill. He is averaging a career-high 26.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in 60 starts this season.

The Celtics have made the playoffs every year of Brown's career dating back to 2016-17. They have played in the Eastern Conference Finals four times during that span, including an appearance in the NBA Finals last season.