Nick Nurse discusses Sixers acquiring Jaylen Brown from Celtics

LAS VEGAS — Jaylen Brown. A member of the Philadelphia 76ers. Who would’ve thought? A guy who has tormented the Sixers for 10 years as a member of the rival Boston Celtics is now headed to Philly to help the Sixers reach the mountaintop.

The Sixers acquired Brown from the Celtics for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-rounders. It was a move that looked extremely lopsided at the time and has the potential to look even worse for Boston as the 2026-27 season progresses.

Brown, a 5-time All-Star and 2024 finals MVP, averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 2025-26. Coach Nick Nurse is familiar with what he brings to the floor and gave his thoughts on how he can help the team moving forward.

“I mean, listen, my first thoughts are is, obviously, had a lot of battles against him,” Nurse said. “All the way through, it seems like we’ve gone at it a lot. Regular season, some playoff series, all those kind of things, and as everybody, you watch him get a lot better from year to year to year, and and how much harder it became to game plan for him, and things like that. So I think that’s always when you’re going against the same guys, especially All-Stars and stuff. Just how much harder your job gets trying to stop them. So, that’s a credit to him as far as his development of his game and all that stuff.”

Brown has taken big steps forward in this league both as a scorer and a defender, which makes him one of the top two-way players in the game. He battled against Sixers stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in Round 1 of the playoffs while also averaging 25.7 points and shooting 40.5% from deep. The Sixers won the series, but Brown’s impact was felt for the Celtics.

“I mean, I think he’s super competitive,” Nurse added. “I think he’s won a lot. Obviously, he won a title. Finals MVP. I think he’s a two-way player. I think he’s versatile. Yeah, I think he’s right there, sitting in his prime. So I think it’s amazing that he’s going to be a Sixer.”

Now, Nurse and his staff must find a way to make it all work offensively. One has to wonder how they will make it work with Brown, Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe. Obviously, those four are going to be the offensive pillars for this group going forward. All are high-usage players–especially, Brown, Maxey, and Embiid–and the challenge will be finding ways to make it cohesive.

“I mean, it’s probably a similar question that you’d have a year ago when we were healthy, right?” Nurse explained. “And I mean you guys are there every day, and you know we go through some little ups and downs of trying to get that figured out, and I think mostly the challenge comes is it changes. So, it’s been changing so much all the time. Like, there’s some nights where, I don’t know, let’s say VJ is a fourth option, and there’s nights when he’s the first option or separate, or whatever.”

Those changes were due to injuries to the likes of Embiid and George in the past. While Embiid will certainly miss games in the upcoming season, Brown has been something of an ironman. He played 71 games in 2025-26, 63 games the season before, 70 the year before, and 67 the year before that. One has to hope there will be less change for Nurse and the staff. They were able to find a happy balance with George late in the season and the playoffs. Now, they hope to strike it with Brown.

“I think that just slows down the whole—and I think we finally got to it, you know, kind of towards the end and through the playoffs,” Nurse finished. “I think it rolled out pretty smoothly, the shot distribution, and where we were looking and all that kind of stuff. So it’ll be, obviously, a big part of our thought process on the offensive end. It is right now, and then it’ll take some polishing and massaging, and time probably is the biggest thing.”

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse discusses Sixers acquiring Jaylen Brown from Celtics