The Atlanta Hawks could make a game-changing trade this summer to elevate their status in the Eastern Conference.

With a roster anchored by Trae Young but stalled by recent first-round playoff exits, the Hawks might explore a blockbuster deal with the Boston Celtics to acquire another superstar, providing Atlanta with a dynamic No. 2 scorer and elite defender.

Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes recently outlined the financial pressures driving this opportunity: “The Boston Celtics have to trim salary unless they intend to spend a half-billion dollars in payroll and tax for a team with a first-round ceiling next year," Hughes wrote.

"A series of smaller moves could produce savings and get Boston out of the repeater tax, but the Atlanta Hawks should ask about a one-fell-swoop approach. Jaylen Brown is set to earn $53.1 million next season. In the final year of his deal in 2028-29, he’ll collect $64.9 million. That’s a ton of cash to onboard for Atlanta, and it would turn up the win-now urgency. Then again, the Hawks don’t control their first-round picks in 2026 or 2027, so purposeful losing isn’t beneficial anyway.”

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Brown to the Hawks?! Hughes's proposal is interesting, but it's not highly realistic, especially since the Hawks wouldn't be willing to include rising star wing Jalen Johnson in the package for Brown.

More likely, the Hawks would offer something like the following package: Zaccharie Risacher, Onyeka Okongwu, Terance Mann, and the No. 13 and No. 22 picks in the upcoming 2025 NBA draft.

While trading Brown would allow the Celtics to establish much-needed fiscal breathing room, this probably isn't the package that would move GM Brad Stevens. Other Brown suitors would be able to trump it, either by offering a higher-level young star than Risacher or by offering a higher pick or picks in the draft.

Brown was the NBA Finals MVP last season, and he's become a cornerstone in Boston. While he's not completely untouchable in trade talks, he's close, and Stevens would need to see an impossible-to-refuse offer on his desk.

This Hawks package isn't that. Brown to the Hawks isn't going to happen; not this summer, anyway.

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