​Celtics Tried to Trade Jaylen Brown to Timberwolves for Massive Return Haul originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.The Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and draft picks, which is old news at this point.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut how about this: The Celtics looked first to trade Brown to the Minnesota Timberwolves.That’s a new report from The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski on Wednesday in a larger article looking at how Minnesota ended up with LaMelo Ball.The idea is that Minnesota looked for a number of possible upgrades before ending up with Ball. Brown was apparently involved in some discussions.The asking price?”Brown was intriguing, but the Celtics were asking for a king’s ransom that included Gobert and heavy draft capital,” Krawczynski wrote in his article. “There were also debates about how Edwards and Brown would fit together as two ISO-heavy scorers on offense.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMORE: Viral video of Joe Mazzulla doing MMA shows off insane musclesIt’s fascinating to think about how differently a deal involving Gobert would’ve looked for Boston.As it is, they ended up with George, who is sort of an older version of Brown at this point.Gobert, though, is a defensively impactful center. The Celtics would’ve had a sure thing starting center, rather than the current depth chart of Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson.Would that have been better or worse? That’s hard to say. It likely would’ve depended on how Gobert fit in on both ends of the floor with a relatively established Boston rotation.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut it’s certainly intriguing either way. Gobert would’ve changed how the Celtics play in a major way.Instead, Minnesota still has the big fella (and Ball), and the Celtics dealt Brown for George instead.Latest Celtics newsTD Garden fan guide: What to know before you goComplete history of Celtics championships