When the Boston Celtics made inroads on a potential Kevin Durant trade last offseason, Jaylen Brown called two key people with the organization to get some clarity on his situation.

Per The Ringer's Logan Murdock, Brown made a three-way call to Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Jayson Tatum to discuss the trade speculation.

"[KD] and JT are friends. They was working out together and whatnot," Brown said. "So, I wasn't sure what the energy was. I wasn't sure what the direction of the organization was."

Stevens gave Brown assurances he wasn't going anywhere and told Murdock what he said on the phone call: "You just have to have a direct conversation. And you just have to be able to say, 'This is what's real. This is where we are. Obviously, you and Jayson are the two guys that we've built the whole roster around. And our every expectation is for us to come and compete together and try to be two games better than we were last year.'"

After Durant made his initial trade request to the Brooklyn Nets, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported on July 25 the Celtics at one point offered Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick to Brooklyn.

According to Charania, the Nets rejected the proposal because they wanted Brown, Marcus Smart, draft picks and potentially one more rotation player in a deal for Durant.