{"id":4464,"date":"2026-07-07T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4464"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:03:51","slug":"some-thoughts-on-the-jaylen-brown-trade-and-how-the-celtics-move-forward-without-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4464","title":{"rendered":"Some thoughts on the Jaylen Brown trade, and how the Celtics move forward without him"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>A few thoughts on the state of the Celtics right after I look up \u201coptionality\u201d in Zander Hollander\u2019s Complete Corporate Buzzwords Handbook of Pro Basketball \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4462\">US support for Israel slips as Democrats grow more critical, poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 There were two questions that I wanted Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to answer during his press conference, alongside owner Bill Chisholm, on Monday at the Auerbach Center in the aftermath of his, er, unpopular trade of Jaylen Brown:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Why was the return (36-year-old, high-salaried veteran Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-rounders from division-rival Philadelphia) appealing to him when most of the basketball world treated it as underwhelming?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>And why make the trade now rather than later?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stevens, who clearly has heard from an assortment of disgruntled Celtics fans since making the deal, answered the first question, emphasizing the appeal of the two first-round picks, which he called \u201cpotentially premium assets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Shaughnessy: Bill Chisholm says the Jaylen Brown trade was \u2018not about the money,\u2019 but Celtics fans won\u2019t buy that<\/div>\n<p><span>He talked up George, a 10-time All-Star with more injury scars than an inept pirate, noting he\u2019s \u201ca hell of a player \u2026 but he\u2019s a much different player than Jaylen,&#8221; which notably followed a line about how you need to feature Brown if he\u2019s on your team.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>But in the quest to build a deep, well-rounded roster, Stevens sees greater value in those picks than Celtics fans did when the trade was announced. And probably still do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 There was less clarity on the timing of the deal, and it makes me continue to wonder if there\u2019s a piece we\u2019re still not privy to regarding Brown\u2019s reaction to trade rumors. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Brown said on his Twitch stream last week that Stevens and the front office kept him informed when the rumors about a trade for then-Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was being negotiated, but that things \u201cwent left\u201d after that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We all know that going left isn\u2019t Brown\u2019s strong suit \u2014 c\u2019mon, allow me that joke, will ya? \u2014 but he did not offer much clarity on what that meant, whether he was angry, or how much more communication he needed. It\u2019s possible Stevens didn\u2019t think he\u2019d get a better deal down the road. It\u2019s possible that there was more tension with Brown than he cared to share. Or maybe he just really did love those first-round picks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 For anyone who spent the hours after the trade trying to figure out why Stevens \u2014 who has been exceptional in his role, in the toughest league to succeed as a team builder \u2014 made the trade rather than caterwauling that he did, most of his other answers confirmed conclusions that were already suspected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Under the current collective bargaining agreement, it\u2019s going to be extremely difficult to build a legitimate championship contender when two players have max deals taking up nearly three-quarters of the salary cap. And it\u2019s even harder when one of those players is an excellent but flawed one, and not among the truly elite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4460\">Mikel Merino\u2019s late goal sends Spain to quarterfinals and ends Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s World Cup career<\/a><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Brad Stevens says he has \u2018lost sleep\u2019 over Jaylen Brown trade, but the deal gives the Celtics flexibility<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cI looked at where the league was heading, looked at the way that we\u2019ve finished the last couple years [with disappointing early-round playoff losses] and also looked at the unbelievable way we\u2019ve played in the regular season the last couple years, [and] the path looked a little bit more challenging to me,\u201d said Stevens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe path looked a little bit more challenging with 70 percent of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players. \u2026 You have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 Stevens kind of\/sort of confirmed a realization that I had while the Celtics were falling apart against the Sixers in the first round this past postseason, which followed them falling apart in the second round last year against the Knicks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Because Brown and Jayson Tatum, as dedicated and talented as they are, played opposite of each other rather than with or off of each other, they needed a specific and scarce kind of teammate to help them reach the mountain top.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stevens said that after surveying free agency, he recognized that the kind of help the Celtics needed \u2014 selfless, well-rounded, high-end players such as Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and holdover Derrick White \u2014 wasn\u2019t available. \u201cI thought our path to getting what we ultimately wanted to do probably looked more like the last couple of years,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 I get why heartbroken Celtics fans felt the same way about the Brown deal as they did when the Red Sox traded the wonderful Mookie Betts in February 2020. But there is one major difference. When Betts was coming off his age-26 season, the Red Sox had decided they weren\u2019t going to pay him what he was worth, and traded him for a pack of common baseball cards. When Brown was coming off his age-26 season, the Celtics made him the highest-paid player in the history of basketball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 The Celtics do have a better basketball team than they had to start the 2025-26 season, though one with more risk given natural concerns about Tatum\u2019s Achilles and Mitchell Robinson\u2019s injury history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u22c5 The Sixers? I have no idea what to make of them, but I can\u2019t wait to get a look. Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe could do some damage if they\u2019re allowed to get out and run, but Joel Embiid might have other ideas for the 47 games he\u2019s healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>The Jaylen Brown trade makes it seem like the Celtics are no longer completely focused on winning<\/div>\n<p><span>\u22c5 One last question: How much does Brown\u2019s usage go down? He did not get his own team by any means, and he is a high-volume player whose offensive strengths are mostly limited to his immense scoring ability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We can admit it now, right? Some of analytics\u2019 skepticism of his value actually <i>is<\/i> confirmed by the eye test.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4458\">Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 3 and takes the Tour de France yellow jersey<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Don\u2019t dare me to make that joke about going left again. I\u2019ll do it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stevens said that after surveying free agency, he recognized that the kind of help the Celtics needed \u2014 selfless, well-rounded, high-end players such as Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and holdover Derrick White \u2014 wasn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Some thoughts on the Jaylen Brown trade, and how the Celtics move forward without him - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4464\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some thoughts on the Jaylen Brown trade, and how the Celtics move forward without him - 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