Jaylen Brown, Derrick White trade rumors shot down by Celtics executive

Mike Zarren said that “there hasn’t been anything close to serious about trading” Derrick White or Jaylen Brown, despite reports that teams around the league have inquired about the two Celtics.

Vice President of Basketball Operations Mike Zarren dismissed the flurry of rumors surrounding the Celtics potentially trading Derrick White and Jaylen Brown.

“Those two guys are really, really great NBA players,” Zarren said. “There hasn’t been anything close to serious about trading them. And so I’m not sure all this reporting came from. But those guys are key parts of our team, and we’re lucky to have them here.”

All week, there has been buzz that the Celtics might trade White or Brown ahead of the draft for a young prospect and draft capital as the team prepared for a season in which Jayson Tatum could be entirely sidelined with an Achilles rupture.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania doubled down on the league-wide interest ahead of the draft: “The Celtics are getting offers, calls on both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Their preference has been to keep both players. They are listening, but will a team get there?”

The Celtics have plenty of questions to answer this offseason — Luke Kornet and Al Horford are both unrestricted free agents, and there are questions regarding whether new acquisitions Georges Niang and Anfernee Simons will remain on the roster.

“As you look at the rest of the team and what we’re trying to do, there’s no question our priorities would be to bring Al and Luke back,” Brad Stevens said on Wednesday night.