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Why nobody can agree how good Jaylen Brown is after Celtics-76ers trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
NBA superstars tend to have a consensus value ,especially when they enter NBA MVP talks; front offices also tend to echo the same sentiments. When pundits, fans, and organizations tend to disagree, the deviation is not that far either. This is seemingly not the case for Jaylen Brown. After getting traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and picks, the conversation around the 2024 Finals MVP's value has not been the most kind. Some are saying that Brad Stevens just got enough, while others think that the front office got fleeced.
Which is it? Let's take a deep dive into the factors that possibly led to this decision.
The cases for Brown's trade value after the Celtics-76ers deal
Just a week before Brad Stevens pushed through with the Jaylen Brown trade to the 76ers for Paul George, the trade target was Giannis Antetokounmpo. The landscape of the trade market then changed when the Milwaukee Bucks dealt the Greek Freak to the Miami Heat instead. Suddenly, it was not a one-for-one trade anymore. The sweepstakes for the Celtics superstar devolved into an assets and draft capital arms race that at least involved an NBA All-Star. Trey Murphy III and the New Orleans Pelicans surfaced as trade candidates while the Portland Trail Blazers had a competing offer as well.
What happened then, and which factors impacted Brown's trade value?
Upsides of trading for Brown
The accolades that Brown acquired with the Celtics often spoke for themselves. He is a five-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection, one-time Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and NBA Finals MVP.
The Celtics also just saw him have the best season of his career. Brown finished sixth in NBA MVP voting with averages of 28.7 points on a 47.7% field goal percentage alongside 5.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and a steal. On top of all that, he will just be 30 years old when the 2026-27 NBA season starts. This gives any franchise that would have traded for him at least one full contract window to compete for a championship. It's also what exactly the 76ers will get as they team him up with Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe, and Tyrese Maxey.
There is also a fire under a player who got moved despite not asking out just yet. Brown will certainly have that during their divisional battles against the Celtics while carrying over his NBA MVP candidacy momentum.
When looking at the bigger picture, Brown has always been known as a winner in the NBA. As the longest-tenured member of the Celtics, he owns the best win-loss record in a span of a decade since 2016-17. The Celtics have gotten 523 total wins, 440 regular season and 234 postseason victories, because of him. This amounts to a whopping 64.1% win percentage. If that's not enough, the Celtics have not had a win percentage less than 59.8% throughout all of their 82-game campaigns.
It's not hard to see why he should be valued more than George alongside two first-round and two second-round picks.
Downsides of trading for Brown
One of the first things a front office looks at when trading for a player is their contract situation. Jaylen Brown has the second-most expensive contract, not just as of the moment, but in all of league history. Brad Stevens and the Celtics signed him to a $285.3 million supermax deal that spans up to 2028. This contract has an annual average value of $57 million. The only two people who earn more are Jayson Tatum, who has a $313.9 million total contract valuation, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who earns $67.9 million per year.
The fact that Brown had just come off an NBA MVP candidacy season means that his contract valuation for an extension will only rise. This means that the Celtics only have to choose between him and Tatum unless they want to limit their financial flexibility.
When Brown's best season is also dissected, it was not the most team-friendly either. Coach Joe Mazzulla made him the all-time Celtics leader in usage percentage for the 2025-26 season with a 36.2 usage percentage. He also attempted the most field goals per 100 possessions (15.2) during his most recent run with the Celtics, per Basketball Reference.
Along with taking up this much space in rotations per game, there were ills that followed. Brown also became the all-time Celtics leader in turnovers per 36 minutes as he got 3.8 turnovers in that statistical category. It's not hard to see that he was a bit of a black hole that either became the reason for why the Celtics singlehandedly won games or shot them out of certain scenarios. It just so happened that they still secured the second-seeded team in the Eastern Conference entering the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
Brown has to be one of the most polarizing players in terms of trade value. However, dwelling on what-could-have-been scenarios will not help Celtics or NBA fans at all. Accepting that Stevens and the Celtics front office traded him merely for George and picks to the 76ers is the first step to moving forward. After all, the assets they got from the transaction could still end up as big contributors in other trades or as players for the future. More than that, George could very well revert to his All-NBA form if he works well alongside Jayson Tatum and Joe Mazzulla.
More Celtics News:
Loved and trusted: All of Jaylen Brown's historic NBA records with the Celtics
'One of the dumbest trades in NBA history': Former Celtics champion blasts Jaylen Brown deal
Paul George contract vs. Jaylen Brown: Why Celtics settled for less in swap of bloated deals with 76ers
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