Kevin Garnett does not think the Celtics should have traded Jaylen Brown, and the comparison he reached for should make Boston uncomfortable.
On a recent episode of his show “KG Certified,” Garnett likened the deal to Minnesota trading Karl-Anthony Towns, arguing the Celtics will spend years looking back on this the way the Timberwolves have. He also invoked Kevin Durant leaving Golden State as a case of a franchise not grasping what it had until it was gone.
“You don’t break a great thing up,” Garnett said.
The Minnesota parallel has teeth. The Timberwolves sent Towns to New York in a 2024 three-team deal with the Knicks and Hornets, taking back Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a future first-round pick. Two of those players are already gone. Towns just won the Knicks their first title since 1973.
Boston’s return for Brown was Paul George and two first-rounders.
Brad Stevens has laid out his reasoning. The Celtics president of basketball operations said he wanted a player who keeps the team competitive now while adding assets for later, and pointed at the math underneath it. Two players consuming roughly 70 percent of the salary cap is close to unworkable under the new collective bargaining agreement. George earns north of $50 million a year, the same neighborhood as Brown, but his contract runs a year shorter.
Garnett is not persuaded. Separating Brown from Jayson Tatum, a pairing he called the most dynamic duo in the league, would have required something genuinely damaging in his view. Ordinary friction between two stars is just what a long partnership looks like.
His read on Philadelphia is the part that stings. Garnett thinks the 76ers got meaningfully better, with Tyrese Maxey rising and V.J. Edgecombe arriving alongside Brown, and with Joel Embiid no longer required to carry everything himself under Nick Nurse. It also happened inside the conference, which means Boston sees the result four times a year.
There is personal history behind the opinion. Garnett arrived in Boston by trade himself in 2007, and he said he wanted Brown to retire a Celtic. He also accepts that the league has moved into a different era.
Brown spent ten seasons in Boston and called this past one his favorite. The Celtics won 56 games with Tatum sidelined for most of it, then surrendered a 3-1 first-round lead to the team he now plays for.
