The San Antonio Spurs' ceiling just got exposed in the NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics might have the answer to all their problems.
The Spurs fell to the New York Knicks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night, dropping the series 4-1 and bringing an abrupt end to what had been a remarkable postseason run for one of the league's youngest stars, Victor Wembanyama.
Wemby averaged 26.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks per game in the Finals. Alongside him was 2025 Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, who averaged 18.2 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.0 rebounds across 23 playoff games, and Dylan Harper, who just earned All-Rookie honors and averaged 18.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game in the NBA Finals.
Wemby, Castle, and Harper are the Spurs' last three lottery picks, and they're all under 23 years old. The fact that they've already made it this far is remarkable, and San Antonio should have every reason to be optimistic about the future. But the Finals exposed one thing none of these three can fix going into next season: championship experience.
The Spurs' core is undeniably elite, with a generational talent in Wembanyama, Castle emerging as one of the best playmakers in the NBA, and Harper as the athletic spark plug who can attack defenders from every angle. Alongside them are key role players like Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, and Keldon Johnson, three versatile, physical wings who can shoot, defend, and hold their own against any team in the league.
But depth and star power are different from experience, and experience is exactly what San Antonio needed when it really mattered.
Wemby shied away in the biggest moments. The other two stars, through no real fault of their own, simply didn't show up in the closing moments in Game 5, because, to put it simply, they had never been there before. The Spurs struggled to deal with the problem many young teams face when they reach this point: who has the ball in their hands with the season on the line? Again, the team's three best players are still in their early 20s.
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The Boston Celtics' All-Star wing has been the subject of trade rumors for weeks, and the fit with San Antonio is too clean. Brown won an NBA title with the Celtics in 2024 and was the driving force behind the championship run, taking home Finals MVP honors over Jayson Tatum after averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.6 steals in the series against the Dallas Mavericks.
As an elite two-way wing who has proven he can show up when the lights shine brightest, he's exactly what the Spurs are missing.
A potential deal could see San Antonio send De'Aaron Fox, last year's No. 14 overall pick, Carter Bryant, and their 2026 first-round pick in exchange for Brown, with the Celtics potentially sweetening the package by adding Ron Harper Jr. to reunite the Harper brothers in San Antonio.
The logic works on both sides. Fox, who struggled at times throughout the Finals, would give Boston a veteran point guard presence they currently lack, as Payton Pritchard and Derrick White are the only two guards seeing heavy rotation minutes. Carter Bryant adds a young, athletic, and versatile wing with real upside, and the Spurs' No. 20 overall pick, which Boston could package with their own No. 27 pick to move up, gives the Celtics legitimate ammunition to build around Tatum, White, Pritchard, and Fox.
For Boston, parting with Brown is a gamble. But they would shed the ongoing drama surrounding him, free up over $5 million in cap space, and receive some exciting young talent in return, along with a guard who averaged 18.6 points, 6.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game just last season.
For San Antonio, Brown is the missing piece. He isn't scared of the moment and slots in perfectly next to Wembanyama on both ends. Alongside Castle and Harper, that gives the Spurs three 6-foot-5 wings who can score at all three levels and defend multiple positions. And most importantly, it adds the championship experience their young core desperately needs.
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Source: Newsweek
