The Portland Trail Blazers stunned the NBA world on Monday when they traded Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Memphis Grizzlies for Ja Morant.
Morant has been a near-superstar in the past, winning Rookie of the Year in 2020, the Most Improved Player Award in 2022, and emerging as a two-time All-Star. However, injuries and off-court struggles caused his career to go downhill in recent years.
The Blazers still believe in Morant’s potential and pulled off the buy-low trade that nobody saw coming. Now, some NBA analysts believe this trade could set up another move… this time for Boston Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown.
NBA Analysts Speculate Blazers Will Acquire Celtics Star Jaylen Brown Next
Morant played in just 20 games last season due to injuries, but he is still just 26 years old and has shown flashes of the budding star we saw a few years ago.
With Morant now in the fold, some NBA analysts believe that this was just the appetizer and that the Blazers still has their sights set on Brown.
The Celtics offered Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, but the two-time NBA MVP was ultimately traded to the Miami Heat. This seemed to damage the relationship with Brown, and Boston has continued to engage in trade talks involving its former NBA Finals MVP. As the Celtics weigh their trade options, the Blazers are reportedly one of the teams squarely in the mix to acquire Brown.
“Acquiring Ja Morant feels like a set-up trade to me given all the Jaylen Brown rumors in Portland,” Yahoo Sports’ NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor wrote. “Now the Blazers could feel more comfortable sending Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe with draft picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown. We’ll see what happens.”
Acquiring Ja Morant feels like a set-up trade to me given all the Jaylen Brown rumors in Portland. Now the Blazers could feel more comfortable sending Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe with draft picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown. We’ll see what happens. https://t.co/zNMIjIiuay
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnor) June 29, 2026
Popular NBA account Legion Hoops had the same thought.
“The Blazers are gonna use Jrue Holiday and more to get Jaylen Brown, aren’t they,” they wrote.
CBS Sports’ NBA analyst Sam Quinn also connected the dots.
“………. Well I’m stunned,” Quinn wrote. “This doesn’t necessarily preclude Jaylen Brown. They could use Jrue Holiday as the primary matching salary, or maybe even expand this deal and send Ja to Boston (though the jersey swap doesn’t suggest that’s happening). Woah.”
Using Holiday to get a deal done makes some sense. Although Boston just traded Holiday to Portland a year ago when they were dumping salary, they know what type of player he is, and they clearly missed his calming presence and defensive ability at times this season.
“Ja Morant to Portland makes you wonder,” ClutchPoints’ NBA reporter Brett Siegelchimed in. “Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard, and Scoot Henderson are all there as well. Suddenly, a Jaylen Brown to Portland trade is not all that crazy to imagine.”
Brown is entering the third season of a five-year, $285,393,640 contract and is set to make $57,078,728 next season. The number will increase to over $61 million for the 2027-28 season and nearly $65 million for the 2028-29 season.
NBA analyst Evan Sidery explained how the salaries could match, explaining that Holiday, Sharpe, Henderson, and picks for Brown and Sam Hauser is “a potential near exact salary match” since Portland sends out $68.4 million and Boston ships out $67.9 million.
A potential near exact salary match trade framework between the Celtics and Trail Blazers involving Jaylen Brown:
Boston ($68.4 million): Jrue Holiday, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, draft compensation
Portland ($67.9 million): Brown + Sam Hauser pic.twitter.com/69IQ3kELKq
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 29, 2026
“The Trail Blazers could still acquire Jaylen Brown with some combination of Jrue Holiday, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, and draft equity,” NBA salary cap analyst Yossi Gozlan confirmed. “They’d be left with a top-heavy payroll pushing up against the tax/apron afterward.”
The question of whether the Blazers have enough depth to make a deal like that is certainly worth asking. But with Morant already in the fold and Portland trying to build on this season’s momentum, perhaps the Blazers are ready to go all in.
