With the Celtics now staring down a 3–0 deficit in the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat, former Boston star Kendrick Perkins says it’s time for the team to move on from the Jaylen Brown/Jayson Tatum duo.
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take on Monday morning, Perkins said, “It’s time to break up the duo” after Boston’s embarrassing 26-point defeat in Game 3. The ESPN analyst even proposed an intriguing trade for Brown that would shake up the NBA.
“[Brown and Tatum] don’t complement each other well,” Perkins said. “I ain’t saying they have to be best friends, but it’s alarming to me when I watch and I look across the internet and I see guys working out throughout the summertime, and I have never seen Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown link up one time. All good things have to come to an end.”
.@KendrickPerkins says Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have reached their ceiling playing together 👀 pic.twitter.com/imCHwWa2xv
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 22, 2023
Perhaps more interesting from Perkins’s take was his suggestion of a potential trade partner for Brown: the Trail Blazers. Perkins proposed a swap of Brown for 32-year-old All-Star guard Damian Lillard.
“Who says no? [Does] Portland say no? Hell no! Do the Celtics say no? Hell no!” Perkins said. “It’s time for change. It’s time for something different.”
A Brown-for-Lillard swap would be quite the blockbuster. And while the suggested move is all conjecture from Perkins at this point, expect Brown’s name to come up frequently in trade speculation this offseason if Boston does in fact crash out of the playoffs.
