Celtics Notes: Jaylen Brown, Ime Udoka, Jayson Tatum

Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said he told forward Jaylen Brown that Brown wasn’t being traded ahead of the Feb. 9 deadline — despite some rumors to the contrary.

Brown’s name had actually surfaced in the talk involving star forward Kevin Durant, then of the Nets and now of the Suns.

“We don’t talk about private stuff on the air about contracts or anything like that,” Grousbeck said on WEEI radio, via Brian Robb of MassLive. “What happens in the league is agents or other teams — I mean, (president of basketball operations Brad Stevens) is on the phone with every team, definitely every week during the season. Just saying, ‘Who do you like? Who is playing well? Who do you like on our roster?’

“He files it away in his mental database. That’s just that. They talk all the time about everything, it doesn’t mean a trade is proposed. Jaylen is not going anywhere. He knew that before the trade deadline because I told him personally.”

Brown is currently sidelined with a facial fracture, the result of an accidental elbow from forward Jayson Tatum. Brown is considered day-to-day entering All-Star Weekend.

• Sources told Hoops Wire that coach Ime Udoka is no longer an employee of the Celtics. But his one-year suspension and dismissal likely won’t impact him as a candidate this summer, as we relayed here.
• In case you missed it, coach Joe Mazzulla officially had the interim tag removed from his title on Thursday, the team announced. (Full post.)
• Tatum has dropped to fourth in ESPN’s straw poll on the MVP race, as relayed by Jeff Clark of SB Nation.
• The Celtics may be among the teams interested in Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love, who is reportedly seeking a contract buyout. We have more on Love here.

Jayson Tatum drops to 4th in ESPN’s MVP straw poll https://t.co/HL77QOaE55 pic.twitter.com/SsjHpxYMPf

— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) February 17, 2023