The Boston Celtics just traded their 2024 NBA Finals MVP for a 36-year-old who played 37 games last season, and they have convinced themselves this is an upgrade.
Jaylen Brown is gone. Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-rounders are coming to Boston. The 76ers get Brown at 29 years old, coming off a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 71 games. An anonymous NBA general manager called it “highway robbery,” per Bleacher Report, and he was talking about the 76ers robbing Boston. Jeff Goodman was blunter: “This might be one of the worst trades I’ve seen in a long time.”
Start with what Boston is sending away. Brown was the best player on the floor in the 2024 Finals: 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, Finals MVP. He is 29 years old. He has a decade of prime left if he stays healthy. They decided they had seen enough.
Now look at what they got. Paul George is 36. His salary next season is $54.1 million, with a $56.6 million player option in 2027-28. In 2025-26 he played 37 games. Twenty-five went to a PED suspension and the rest to injuries, including arthroscopic knee surgery last July. Since leaving Oklahoma City in 2019, he has played 70 or more games exactly once in seven seasons. Once.
The Celtics had tried to acquire Giannis going to Miami instead. That door closed. So Boston settled for George, though “settle” barely covers it when what you’re settling on is your Finals MVP for a player who hasn’t been available half the time across the last seven years.
Tyrese Maxey, who will now play alongside Brown in Philadelphia, posted his reaction on X:
https://x.com/TyreseMaxey/status/2072455538638520513
That about covers it.
Brown told ESPN he felt “excited and disappointed.” The disappointed part is easy to understand. He put up the best scoring season of his career, led the Celtics to a two-seed, and was shipped to a division rival anyway. The Celtics looked at that résumé and decided George, a player who has never been the best player on a winning team in any playoff run, was the upgrade. There is no gentle way to say that out loud.
My brother texted me at 11 PM last night: “who do they think they’re getting.” He is not a basketball analyst. He watches highlights on his phone. He could see it.
The best case for Boston goes like this: the picks hit. A 2028 first and a 2031 first could turn into real players. And maybe George defies the last seven years, maybe the knee holds, maybe 36 plays like 32. That is the version of events Boston needs.
The problem is that Jayson Tatum, coming off a knee injury in the 2026 playoffs, needs a co-star who shows up. The Celtics already know what Brown looks like when he shows up. They watched it win them a title. What they are betting on now is the best-case version of a player whose track record is “available when it’s convenient.”
You can read the 76ers’ side of this deal to understand why Philadelphia is celebrating. They should be.
Boston sent out their Finals MVP, a 29-year-old in his prime, and received a 36-year-old with a surgically repaired knee and $54 million due next season. The picks are real assets. The picks are not Jaylen Brown.
They’ll find that out. Probably by January.
He’s never been the second star on a winner. Now he is.
