2 reasons why the Rockets shouldn't give up on a Jaylen Brown pursuit

2. The Celtics may not believe the Brown/Tatum duo could win a title

Jaylen Brown is in his 7th season in Boston and his sixth season alongside Jayson Tatum. During that time, the Celtics reached the NBA Finals once and reached the Conference Finals three times.

Granted, Brown didn't really ascend to stardom until 2019-20, but that still gives the Celtics' brainpower a legitimate three-year sample size to have determined whether they believe the Brown-Tatum pairing can lead them to a title. The timing of this is unfortunate, as both players are frankly too young to make this assessment at this juncture, with Brown being just 26-years-old and Tatum being just 25.

But the Celtics can't control the timing, they can only play the hand they've been dealt, which is having to decide on a supermax for both Brown and Tatum. And we've certainly seen duos split up after a three-year time-frame.

The Rockets saw this several times during the James Harden era, as the franchise attempted to pair Harden with Dwight Howard, which ended after three years, Chris Paul, which ended after two years, and Russell Westbrook, which only lasted one season.

And Boston may not believe in the Brown/Tatum pairing long-term, which could prompt them to deal him, rather than extend him.