Celtics Trade Jaylen Brown to Rival 76ers for Paul George and Picks in One of the Most Stunning NBA Deals

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics sent shockwaves through the NBA on Wednesday by trading Jaylen Brown, a five-time All-Star and former Finals MVP, to the Philadelphia 76ers in a blockbuster that sent Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks back to Boston, completing one of the most jarring transactions in the franchise's history.

ESPN's Shams Charania, who first reported the deal, said the Celtics had been "full-blown shopping" Brown around the league by Wednesday before reaching an agreement with Philadelphia.

The trade brings Brown's tenure in Boston to an end after a decade with the franchise. He arrived as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 draft and leaves having played in more combined regular season and playoff wins than any other NBA player over that span. He earned five All-Star selections, helped Boston win the 2024 NBA championship and, just last season, posted the best individual numbers of his career, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game while earning second-team All-NBA honors and finishing sixth in MVP voting as the Celtics went 56-26 despite playing without Jayson Tatum for most of the year following his Achilles tear.

Brown becomes the fifth player in NBA history to be traded within three seasons of winning Finals MVP.

Despite those achievements, tensions between Brown and the organization had been building for months. After the Celtics were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the 76ers in May, Brown described the season as his "favorite" of his career, a comment widely interpreted as preferring a starring role over the shared spotlight of a championship team. Around the same time, former NBA star Tracy McGrady, who has been a close mentor to Brown, said on his podcast that the Celtics star had grown frustrated with the franchise.

The situation reached its breaking point when Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens tried and failed to include Brown in a package for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. After the Bucks chose instead to send Giannis to Miami, Stevens apparently concluded the relationship was no longer repairable and began soliciting offers from around the league.

Charania reported that Brown never formally requested a trade out of Boston, a point confirmed separately by Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

Brown now joins a core in Philadelphia that includes center Joel Embiid, guard Tyrese Maxey and Rookie of the Year finalist VJ Edgecombe, giving the 76ers a formidable group built around three players who together represent the franchise's most promising outlook in years. The addition of Brown immediately improved Philadelphia's championship odds, with DraftKings moving the 76ers from 60-1 to 22-1 to win the NBA title and from 20-1 to +900 to win the Eastern Conference following confirmation of the deal.

The trade also carries a layer of personal intrigue given Brown's history with his new teammate Embiid. After this spring's playoff series between the teams, Brown publicly called Embiid a flopper on a livestream.

"Joel Embiid is a great player. One of the best bigs in basketball history," Brown said. "But he flops. He know it. This ain't breaking news. It is what it is."

The two will now share a locker room.

What Boston received in return has drawn intense scrutiny from analysts and NBA observers. George, 36, has appeared in just 78 regular season games across two seasons as a Sixer after signing a four-year maximum contract with Philadelphia in 2024, missing time due to knee injuries and serving a 25-game league suspension for violating the drug policy. Even when available, his production has fallen from his peak, with the nine-time All-Star averaging 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game in Philadelphia while shooting .434/.375/.817.

George also has nearly $111 million remaining on his contract over the next two seasons, including a player option for 2027-28. His trade bonus will increase his $54.1 million salary to $57.7 million for the upcoming season. The deal did little to improve the Celtics' salary cap situation, even as it moves them away from the luxury tax tier.

The Ringer characterized the return Boston received as objectively worse than what the Los Angeles Clippers received for Kawhi Leonard, a frequently injured 35-year-old currently under investigation for alleged cap circumvention, noting the comparison was not meant to criticize Leonard but rather to illustrate how dramatically the Celtics appear to have undersold a younger, more durable and more productive star.

The draft compensation accompanying George includes a 2028 first-round pick from Philadelphia that could convert to a more favorable swap option for Boston, the Sixers' 2031 first-round pick unprotected, a 2028 second-round pick representing the most favorable of Golden State's, Oklahoma City's or Milwaukee's selections, and a 2030 second-round pick representing the most favorable of Washington's, Portland's or Phoenix's selections.

The trade also capped a busy day for the Celtics on the roster-building front. According to Charania, Boston also agreed to free agent deals with center Mitchell Robinson and veteran point guard Mike Conley, suggesting the franchise is beginning to rebuild around Tatum, who is expected to return healthy for next season after recovering from his Achilles injury.

Brown still has three years and $183 million remaining on the supermax extension he signed in 2023 and will become extension-eligible this offseason with Philadelphia. Whether the 76ers pursue an extension immediately or wait until 2027 remains to be determined. The Sixers' new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey, landed a player who, at 29, should still have multiple prime years ahead of him, a considerably more optimistic outlook than the aging, injury-prone George his franchise has been paying maximum-level money to watch from the bench for the past two seasons.

Boston's NBA Finals odds moved from +700 to 10-1 following the deal, reflecting market skepticism about the Celtics' ability to remain a championship contender in the Eastern Conference after surrendering their second-best player for a diminished veteran and a collection of future draft assets.