It got scant attention earlier this week between Drake Maye’s less-than-spectacular start and the Red Sox playoff push. But Celtics General Manager Brad Stevens spoke about his mindset on trading Jaylen Brown. 

He said some pretty illuminating things. And the whole thing makes you wonder if . . .

A) Stevens had issues with Brown. 

B) How much input, if any, Brown had in the deal.

Before I attempt to answer them, we have to go back to May, when the Philadelphia 76ers crawled out of a 3-1 hole to beat the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Almost immediately, the talk began about acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks, with Brown being the trade bait.

Why Brown? Didn’t he win the 2024 Finals MVP? Didn’t he prove himself beyond doubt this season, played almost entirely without Jayson Tatum (torn Achilles tendon)? Why would you want to ship him somewhere else, despite the promise of getting Antetokounmpo in return?

Answer: Stevens, for one of the very few times in his Celtics tenure, slipped up and put the cart before the horse. He dangled Brown to the Bucks before he knew for sure he had a deal pending. 

As it turned out, he didn’t. Antetokounmpo is now in Miami, and this had the potential of being another Nomar Garciaparra. Stevens had no choice but to deal Brown. The issue is, why such an unimpressive return? Second-round draft choices for a team that’s going to be in a low position next year? And why trade him to Philly, of all teams? You’d think someone like Jaylen Brown would command a pretty steep price.

In an interview last weekend, Stevens was pretty honest about the situation, intimating that the idea of two max-contract superstars existing in perfect peace was unsustainable. 

I have to agree. It would be nice if they threw five basketballs onto the court, but there’s only one. Someone has to direct traffic, while the other four function around him. 

Three years ago, Stevens stacked the team and it was pretty obvious he and the Celtics were going for broke. Tatum and Brown co-existed, the rest of the guys fell into familiar ancillary roles, the Celtics rolled to a title. Brown — not Tatum — ended up as the MVP. 

So, was Brown supposed to resume his assistant alpha role (to Tatum’s alpha)? Life doesn’t work that way, does it?

Brown was in the hunt for league MVP last year and he’s going to be No. 2? No. Not forever, and certainly not for the life of his contract.

I suspect Stevens figured this out before I ever did, and this was in the works for a long time. Stevens tipping his hand so badly complicated the transaction, though, and Stevens did not get what he thought he would as a result.

Beyond the affront to Boston fans of sending Brown to Philly, there’s this: It’s not as if Brown is going to a team that can easily build around him. That is Joel Embiid’s team. It’s possible there could be friction there, too.

So, in the end, Stevens tried to make the best of a situation that hadn’t materialized yet, but was probably going to at some point. He just went about it in a disastrous way and pulled off a great trade — for Philly.

This begs the question, though, of whether Brown told Stevens he’d refuse a trade if it wasn’t to a team already in the position to win. It would seem so. There had to be a large number of teams willing to give up a lot more than draft choices and a past-his-prime Paul George. (Johnny Ringo had already been gunned down by Doc Holliday.) 

Anyway, training camp starts Tuesday. Coach Joe Mazzulla will have about a month to incorporate some of the newer talent into the rotation, and then we might have a better answer to these questions.