Jaylen Brown for Paul George: 40 cents on the dollar, and one of the worst trades in Boston sports history
Stupefying.
What is going on with the Boston Celtics?
In a town with three teams who are regularly second-guessed and sometimes openly mocked — hello, 2026 Red Sox — the Celtics have been our standard of excellence, smarts, and stability.
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Sure there have been some low moments. The Sidney Wicks-Curtis Rowe days were rough, and fans still cringe at memories of the Rick Pitino and M.L. Carr eras. But by and large, the Celtics have been on the right path, giving us reason to believe they’re readying to hang another banner from the Garden rafters.
Not today.
News broke Wednesday night that the Celtics had shipped 29-year-old superstar Jaylen Brown to their forever-rival Philadelphia 76ers for 36-year-old Paul George and a raft of future draft picks — firsts for 2028 and ’31, and a pair of seconds — that will have no immediate impact.
Yikes. This makes the Mookie Betts trade to the Dodgers (for Connor Wong, Jeter Downs, and Alex Verdugo) look like a steal for the Red Sox.
The honeymoon is officially over for new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm and vaunted president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. There’s no way they will be able to sell this to their loyal fan base.
It’s so ridiculous, it makes you think there’s another shoe to drop. Stevens must have something else up his sleeve. I mean, this can’t possibly be it. Maybe we’ll all wake up tomorrow and discover that Brad figured out a way to get young superstars Victor Wembanyama and Dylan Harper from the Spurs for Hugo González and Jordan Walsh.
This deal officially draws a curtain on the decade-long Jayson Tatum-Brown era that produced a championship in 2024 and another trip to the Finals in 2022, but ultimately underachieved. The two Jays should have been good for multiple championships. Maybe three.
Now, it’s over.
Brown somehow shot himself out of town and moves on to play with a Philly team that just beat the Celtics in a Game 7 at the Garden and still has Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe. The Sixers put themselves into the conversation as contenders to dethrone the Knicks in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics, meanwhile, have an eye toward the future and perhaps saving money as they wade into the 2026-27 season without their best player from last year.
This simply won’t fly in a region that measures basketball success in championships. The Celtics have 18 of them, more than any NBA franchise. When Tatum came back from his Achilles surgery earlier this year, there was legitimate hope they were primed for No. 19, but that evaporated when they blew a 3-1 series lead in the first round.
In the hours after the ignominious defeat, Brown made the first move when he assured everyone that it was the favorite season of his career. Given the way the Celtics finished, and the obvious fact that it was a season in which Brown did not have Tatum at his side, the comment sparked speculation that Brown would rather have the stage to himself. Challenged on these points, the ever-stubborn Brown did what he always does: He doubled down.
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In his postseason presser, Stevens acknowledged that the Celts needed to change things, but denied Brown was unhappy.
“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” he said. “He’s been amazing. We have a great relationship.”
This didn’t pacify the ever-persecuted Brown. Incapable of staying off the internet, he spent most of late May and all of June finding enemies, real and imagined. He said he wasn’t named All-NBA first team because he’s controversial. He picked a fight with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and said the network was unethical.
Just last week, Brown was almost being traded for Milwaukee superstar big man Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Stevens would not include González or Baylor Scheierman, and drew a hard line on picks.
Giannis went to the Miami Heat, and a wounded Brown told us the rumors might make him a “monster.” Last weekend he wrote on social media, ”Nobody has won more combined regular season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago.”
Who does that?
It became increasingly apparent that Stevens was going to have to deal a star, the Finals MVP in the 2024 championship run. We just didn’t think the esteemed hoop boss was going to settle for 40 cents when dealing a 10-year veteran who was supposed to team with Tatum for multiple titles.
It’s a hideous swap. One that has New England reeling as Basketball America shakes its head.
Jaylen Brown for Paul George and draft picks? A washed Paul George, who is often hurt and last year got whacked for 25 games due to ingesting a banned substance? Were Wicks and Rowe not available?
It often takes years to assess a sports swap, but we don’t have time to do that today. All we have is here and now . . . suspicions that Celtics new ownership is not about winning, and that Stevens got taken.
At this hour, the trading of Jaylen Brown can only be viewed as one of the worst trades in Boston sports history.
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