Jaylen Brown is walking into Philadelphia with a résumé that would make him the centerpiece almost anywhere else. Instead, he may have to get comfortable as a No. 4 option some nights.
That’s the reality for the 76ers after they beat out the Golden State Warriors and other suitors to land LeBron James, then pulled off a blockbuster deal for the former Finals MVP. Philadelphia suddenly has a roster packed with high-end talent, and the biggest question now is how all of it fits together. Brown is right at the center of that conversation.
The 29-year-old forward is coming off the best season of his career in his final year with the Celtics, putting up 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Those numbers helped him finish sixth in MVP voting and earn All-NBA Second Team honors. Even with that production, though, the fit in Philadelphia could be awkward on certain nights if everyone is healthy.
Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and James all demand touches, which leaves Brown in a murky spot in the offensive pecking order. And because he’s not really known as a pure off-ball catch-and-shoot weapon, that issue only gets sharper. Over the last two seasons, he hit 32.4% and 34.7% from 3-point range.
That’s part of what made his final stretch in Boston so complicated, too. The Celtics had to think about what it would look like to send Brown back into a secondary role behind Jayson Tatum after Brown had carried more of the offense while Tatum recovered from a torn achilles.
Golden State would have offered a much cleaner answer. A trade there would have put Brown in a more clearly defined offensive lane next to two-time MVP Stephen Curry, and there would have been plenty of nights in the regular season when Brown would have been the Warriors’ top scoring option. Curry is 38 and is still managing the knee injury that forced him to miss 27 straight games late last season.
But the Warriors never got the deal over the line. To make it happen, they would have had to give up four first-round picks, while the Celtics ultimately took only two from the 76ers in a return that many immediately saw as underwhelming for a five-time All-Star.
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