Over the last week, rumours of a Jaylen Brown trade have been swirling. A possible send off to Milwaukee in a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but that never came to fruition due to Miami simply having an abundance of assets.

Portland was in the mix, with a package surrounding Jerami Grant, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and picks; instead, the Blazers decided to use the Jerami Grant contract to acquire Ja Morant.

The Sacramento Kings were rumoured as a perfect destination for Jaylen Brown, who clearly wanted to be the #1 option on his own team, but no package formed.

The main team was the New Orleans Pelicans, with plenty of trade rumours surrounding Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones. It seemed like the Celtics and Pelicans were headed towards a sensible swap for both teams, in which Jaylen Brown got to be the #1 option full time, and play with a legitimate paint monster in Zion Williamson. However, this deal never crossed the finish line.

The Trade

This brings us to July 1st, at 6:13 PM EDT when Shams Charania tweeted that the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers had come to an agreement on a trade that would send Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia in exchange for Paul George, two 1sts and two 2nds. Later confirming that the picks are a 2028 1st, a 2031 unprotected 1st, a 2028 2nd, and a 2030 2nd.

The Pros and Cons for Boston

This is a trade that you can take at face value and think, why? The Boston Celtics clearly did not have as many offers on the table as most people had thought. But let’s take a look at one major pro and con of this move for Boston.

The Pro, the money side of things.

Jaylen Brown is currently on a contract paying him 57 million dollars this season, 61 million dollars next season, and 65 million dollars in 28-29. Comparatively, Paul George is on a contract paying him 54 million dollars this season, with a 56.5 million dollar player option for next season; one would assume he takes that. This opens up 65 million dollars in the 28-29 season. The 28-29 offseason has three big free agents that teams are believed to be waiting for.

The least likely of the three is future Denver Nuggets Hall of Famer Nikola Jokić, who will become a UFA, it’s not expected that he leaves, however if Denver continues to fail to put a competitive team around him, we could see him leave to chase a second ring.

The next name is newly acquired Miami Heat star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who clearly does not yet have loyalty to Miami, and with the various question marks regarding this Miami roster. It’s hard to imagine the rumour mill on Giannis not swirling up again next summer.

Finally, and the most likely name of the three, we have Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Dončić, who has a 53 million dollar player option that season, one that is certainly going to be rejected barring a nearly unprecedented drop in production. Before Luka even set foot in Los Angeles, the reports were that he would not have nearly the same loyalty to LA as he did to Dallas, and in a stacked Western Conference, it is hard to imagine the Lakers making a Finals appearance, let alone a conference finals appearance, in this time frame.

If any three of these stars hit the market, the Celtics have just opened up 65 million dollars to play with.

The Con, a pure roster downgrade.

Coming off of a season in which Jaylen Brown put up a season stat line of 28.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 5.1 APG, and led the “Gap Year” Celtics to a 56-26 record and the 2 seed out east. On the other side, Paul George missed half the season due to a drug suspension and put up a season stat line of 17.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 3.6 APG in the games he was able to play.

This is a clear roster downgrade; there’s no debating that, as of writing, the Boston Celtics are a worse team than they were yesterday, but let’s look deeper than that. Not only are the Celtics worse, but the 76ers team that defeated them in round 1 of the playoffs are a better team than they were yesterday.

The Pros and Cons for Philadelphia

You can look at a bare-bones trade of Jaylen Brown for Paul George, and your first thought is likely to be, what cons? However, there is a clear major flaw in the acquisition of Jaylen Brown and the trade that was made to acquire him.

The Pro, favourites out east?

The Eastern Conference has long been deemed the “Weaker Conference” by many, however the Knicks are the reigning NBA Champions, Toronto acquired Kawhi, Miami acquired Giannis, the Pistons are coming off a disappointing loss as the 1 seed and are hungry for more, the Cavaliers have the roster but just aren’t sure what they need to get over the hump, the Pacers will have Haliburton back at the helm bringing them right back to possible finals contention. However, beyond all of that. The Philadelphia 76ers have talent up and down the roster. Tyrese Maxey is coming off a season in which he broke out even more from his original breakout. Joel Embiid the player is still a generational scorer with few flaws to his game, can he stay healthy enough? VJ Edgecombe was a Rookie Of The Year finalist and is poised to only improve. Bringing in an elite perimeter defender in Dean Wade to likely run the 4 for them. Beyond that the depth of this roster needs work, which I’m sure we will see come to fruition over the coming days.

It’s hard to deny pure talent, and that’s what the 76ers have in their starting lineup.

The Con, Jaylen Brown: The Personality

Jaylen Brown was the Finals MVP in 2023 for the Boston Celtics, and has gone on to make sure you never forget how good he is. Reports have stated since that championship run that Jaylen Brown has wanted his own team, and when he was given the keys due to a Jayson Tatum torn Achilles he flourished, Brown now goes to a team with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, two of the leagues best scorers, you can pencil Embiid in to miss at least 20 games, but is that enough for Brown? You can hope that he will be able to put his pride aside and accept his role as a #2 option with two other ball-dominant players.

Jaylen Brown has another major flaw in his personality, his raging social media presence. When the season ended he hopped on Twitch to talk about what went wrong, during the trade rumours he posted about how analytics are ruining sports for saying his teammates are better than him. It’s not hard to imagine that the entire situation regarding Jaylen Brown the person was detrimental to his already lower than perceived trade value.

To Conclude

In the end, a trade of this magnitude will forever be questioned among fans. With draft picks extending into the 2030s, you never truly know who wins a trade.

If neither team wins a championship? A what if.

If the 76ers win a championship? A disaster from the Boston Celtics.

If the Celtics win a championship? A stain on the career of Jaylen Brown.