Jaylen Brown’s trade return looked light when it first landed, but the latest reporting helps explain why Boston may not have had much leverage at all.
The Celtics sent Brown away and got Paul George plus two first-round draft assets: one pick swap from the Los Angeles Clippers/Philadelphia 76ers in 2028 and one unprotected first-round pick from the Sixers in 2031. For a player who had built enough of a Celtics legacy to put his number-retirement case on the table, along with an All-NBA Second Team nod, that package felt underwhelming. The fact that he was shipped to a division rival only sharpened that reaction.
But Brian Scalabrine’s recent reveal changes the way the deal looks. If Brown had told the Celtics to meet his demands or move him, and that word had spread around the league, other teams likely understood Boston was in a bad spot.
Once the situation looked beyond repair, the rest of the NBA could have treated the Celtics like a team forced to deal. That usually drags the price down.
It’s the same basic lesson teams learn when they wait too long. Milwaukee didn’t get the best possible haul for Giannis Antetokounmpo because it held on too long, and by the time the Bucks moved him, Miami got him for less than someone like the Greek Freak would normally command. Brown’s case wasn’t identical, but the dynamic was similar enough: if rivals knew he was done in Boston, they may have squeezed the Celtics as hard as possible, especially if they sensed Brad Stevens was desperate.
And with a little time, the deal doesn’t look quite so ugly.
That has less to do with Brown himself and more to do with Paul George, who was widely criticized at first but has since started to look better than the early reaction suggested. He’ll still have his highs and lows, but he clearly has more left than a lot of people were willing to admit.
Brown is in his prime, while George is nearing the back end of his own, but there’s a real chance Boston ends up getting more out of George than it did from Brown. That’s not about which player is better. It’s about fit.
The future picks matter too. The Clippers are still trying to clean up the aftermath of the Kawhi Leonard fallout, and the Sixers are built to chase wins now, with no guarantee their shape in five years looks anything like it does today.
Could Boston have pulled more out of Brown? Maybe.
But if his desire to leave was already out there, the Celtics were boxed in. Under those circumstances, this may have been the best offer on the table.
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