Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jaylen Brown was the subject of many trade rumors this offseason, with many reports suggesting he was going to be dealt to the Brooklyn Nets in a potential blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant. The young shooting guard was great for the C's last season, helping them reach the NBA Finals, eventually losing to the Golden State Warriors. 
Brown and Jayson Tatum showed that they could work great together and do big things with the Celtics, earning a lot of attention around the league. The Brooklyn Nets appeared to be ready to land Brown in exchange for Kevin Durant, but as we all know now, none of that happened. 
The Celtics were named favorites to land KD, and even though Brown was reportedly hurt by those rumors, he's ready to continue his partnership with the Greens. It wasn't an easy situation, but Jaylen apparently managed it very well, according to one of his teammates. 
Talking with Bobby Manning of CLNS Media, Marcus Smart was asked about the drama in Boston, shutting down any idea that Brown was mad at the team or anything. The veteran point guard revealed that Brown is doing well and walks around with a smile on his face, not holding any grudges against anybody. 
“(Brown’s) handled it great,” Smart told Manning. “He walks around with a smile on his face. We actually haven’t even mentioned it when we were together. We were just talking about the upcoming season and getting ourselves ready, but he’s great. He’s handling it as professionally as he can and my advice is, to anybody, don’t forget it’s a business first. When you’re doing business, personal stuff has to go out the window and can’t be the issue, so you can’t look at it like that.”
Jaylen is a professional before anything, and it's good to see that he took this situation with a very mature approach. The Celtics traded for Malcolm Brogdon and are in a privileged position to compete for everything next season. It'll be interesting to see if they can come out of the East again, but as things stand right now, they might be the favorites to represent the conference in the 2023 Finals.