The Athletic has live coverage of 2026 NBA free agency.
From the mountaintop, after the Boston Celtics won the 2024 championship, Jaylen Brown emphasized how much it meant to win a ring alongside teammate Jayson Tatum after all they had experienced together.
“We’ve been through a lot, the losses, the expectations,” Brown said. “The media have said all different types of things: We can’t play together, we are never going to win. We heard it all. But we just blocked it out, and we just kept going. I trusted him. He trusted me. And we did it together.”
Advertisement
Two years after that triumphant moment, the Celtics are splitting up one of the most successful duos in recent history. In a shocking move, the Celtics have agreed to trade Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.
The 76ers are also sending the Celtics two first-round picks (2028 via the Clippers, their own in 2031) and two second-round picks, according to a league source who was granted anonymity because the deal isn’t official yet. ESPN first reported the move.
The trade ends the 36-year-old George’s up-and-down two-season tenure in Philly, which included just one playoff series win (coincidentally, an upset against Boston), a series of knee injuries and a 25-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
Conversely, Brown did little but win in Boston.
The third pick in 2016, Brown reached the playoffs in each of his 10 seasons with the team. No other franchise won more playoff games than the Celtics did during Brown’s tenure. With him, they advanced to the conference finals six times and the NBA Finals twice. He won the 2024 NBA Finals MVP award while helping the team end a 16-year championship drought. The Celtics were expected to experience a significant falloff after serious changes last offseason, but, with determined leadership and career-best production, Brown helped them defy expectations throughout a 56-win regular season.
Even while Brown guided the Celtics to a surprising second-place finish, signs of potential turbulence started to emerge. He had other reasons to savor the season besides his individual success, including the growth of his young teammates and the ability to blow past preseason expectations. Still, as he regularly expressed how much he loved the season — he called it his favorite season even after the Celtics blew a 3-1 first-round lead to the 76ers — others wondered if he was not-so-subtly suggesting he wanted out of Tatum’s shadow. Tatum missed 66 games while recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon, leaving Brown in the top role for the first time in his career.
Advertisement
Despite facing criticism of his comments, Brown believed those inside the Celtics organization knew where his heart was. During a Twitch stream in early May, he said he could stay in Boston for the next 10 years if it were up to him.
Instead, the Celtics included Brown in an offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo before the Milwaukee Bucks traded the two-time NBA MVP to the Miami Heat. Though their pursuit of Antetokounmpo fell short, the Celtics continued to explore the market for Brown. Despite their surprisingly successful regular season, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens seemed to feel urgency after the first first-round exit of his time in charge of the Boston front office.
Following Brown’s career year, the Celtics traded him while his value was high. Still, they did so during what could be the middle of his prime. After nine years’ worth of evidence that they had a chance to compete whenever Brown and Tatum were available, the Celtics will need to prove that their new core works.
They will also need to deal with the emotions of moving on from Brown after he meant so much to the franchise over the last decade.
a.showcase-link-container {
display: flex;
gap: 20px;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
padding: 20px 0px;
border-top: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);
text-decoration: none;
color: #121212;
cursor: pointer;
.showcase-link {
font-family: nyt-franklin;
font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 700;
line-height: 13.8px;
letter-spacing: 1.1px;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
.showcase-link-image {
border-radius: 8px;
object-fit: cover;
width: 200px;
height: 150px;
margin: 0px;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
width: 120px;
height: 120px;
}
}
.showcase-link-inner-content {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
gap: 16px;
width: 100%;
}
.showcase-link-text-content {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
gap: 20px;
justify-content: center;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
gap: 8px;
}
}
.showcase-link-title {
font-family: nyt-cheltenham;
font-size: 24px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 500;
line-height: 120%; /* 24px */
letter-spacing: 0.01px;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
overflow: hidden;
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-orient: vertical;
-webkit-line-clamp: 3;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
font-size: 16px;
}
}
.showcase-link-excerpt {
font-family: nyt-imperial;
font-size: 16px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 400;
line-height: 139%; /* 19.46px */
color: #323232;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
overflow: hidden;
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-orient: vertical;
-webkit-line-clamp: 4;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
font-size: 12px;
line-height: 121%;
}
}
}
.showcase-link-inputs {
.showcase-link-input {
width: 100%;
font-size: 1rem;
background-color: white;
margin-bottom: 12px;
}
.showcase-link-indent {
margin-left: 25px;
}
option {
width: 100%;
}
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
.native-mobile a.showcase-link-container {
background-color: #121212;
color: #f0f0ee;
.showcase-link-excerpt {
color: #c4c4c0;
}
}
}
// Remove all onclicks on imgs for apps to prevent image zoom on click
document.querySelectorAll(‘.showcase-link-image’).forEach((img) => img.removeAttribute(‘onclick’));
