After experiencing the best season of his career, Jaylen Brown is heading to a new franchise. After 10 seasons with the Boston Celtics, Brown was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
In exchange, the Celtics will receive 76ers star Paul George, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The Celtics will also receive two future first-round picks and two future second-round picks.
The deal comes days after Brown was mentioned as a major part of a trade package for Giannis Antetokounmpo. That deal fell through, as the Milwaukee Bucks opted to trade Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat. With Antetokounmpo no longer available, there was some thought Brown would return to the Celtics. But the team had other plans.
George averaged 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season, his second with the 76ers. He only appeared in 37 games, however, due to both a knee injury and a 25-game suspension for violating the league’s performance enhancing drug policy. The 76ers went 45-37 last season and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brown will now get to team up with star Joel Embiid and point guard Tyrese Maxey. That duo, along with George and VJ Edgecombe, got the 76ers to match what has been their deepest postseason run in decades. The franchise, however, hasn’t made it to the Eastern Conference finals since 2001, when they fell in the NBA Finals with Allen Iverson.
The deal marks the end of Brown’s tenure in Boston. It was an incredibly productive decade of work, as Brown worked his way up from defensive stalwart to All-Star player to MVP candidate.
After being selected by the Celtics with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brown’s career got off to a modest start. As a rookie, he averaged just 6.6 points per game. His defense, however, was a strong point. In his second season, Brown received down-ballot Defensive Player of the Year votes.
After a disappointing third season, in which Brown averaged 13 points per game, he took a big step forward offensively. He averaged over 20 points for the first time in his career during the 2019-20 NBA season and hasn’t fallen below that threshold since.
Despite his success, it took until the 2020-21 season for Brown to earn his first All-Star Game nod. Since then, Brown has averaged 24.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He’s made a total of five All-Star Games, been named to the second-team All-NBA team twice, finished sixth in the MVP voting once and helped lead the Celtics to the 2023-24 NBA championship, earning Finals MVP for his performance.
The trade comes at a curious time for Brown and the Celtics. With Jayson Tatum recovering from an Achilles injury for the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Celtics were expected to take a big step back. But Brown took his game to another level, averaging a career-high 28.7 points per game with Tatum sidelined and leading the team to a No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics, however, couldn’t carry that momentum through in the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers.
That premature exit may have resulted in the Celtics re-evaluating their relationship with Brown … again. It’s reportedly not the first team that team has dangled Brown in trade talks, as the Celtics were reportedly willing to include Brown in a deal for Kevin Durant back in 2022.
That deal also fell through, leading to Brown eventually signing a five-year, $285 million extension to remain with the Celtics. Brown has played two seasons under that deal. He’s owned $57 million, $61 million and then $64 million over the next three years.
That contract — as well as the awkwardness of bringing Brown back after another failed trade attempt — may have led to the Celtics deciding it was best to cut bait on Brown even after the Antetokounmpo trade fell through.
The team seemed to signal as much after the 2026 NBA Draft, when it reportedly engaged in trade talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves that involved Brown. The Timberwolves eventually decided to trade for LaMelo Ball instead.
Brown has undoubtedly been a massive win for the Celtics over the past decade. His rise helped fuel the team’s recent dominance and played a major role in the franchise winning another championship.
Despite that, the team felt it was better to move ahead without Brown. After a decade of excellence together, the team will now have to prove it made the right choice. Now, they’ll get to do that with George and a number of future draft picks available to them.
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