Jaylen Brown’s first two preseason games as a Sixer have already hinted at a pretty clear offensive fit.
He’s led Philadelphia in scoring in both games, piling up 40 points in 41 minutes while shooting 59.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from deep and 83.3 percent at the line. More important for the Sixers, he’s looked like a player who can take real pressure off Tyrese Maxey.
That showed up right away in the preseason opener, when Maxey, LeBron James and Joel Embiid were all out. Brown became the engine of the offense and finished with 22 points, all of them coming in the first half. He kept initiating, kept hunting one-on-one chances and kept forcing the issue off ball screens.
The second game played differently once all five projected starters were available for the first time. Brown cashed in on an early dunk after strong ball movement from James and Embiid, then didn’t take another shot in the opening quarter and didn’t score again until 3:54 remained in the second. Still, all three of his remaining baskets came with Maxey on the bench, which offered a small preview of how the Sixers might stagger their top scorers.
That matters because Maxey carried an enormous load last season. His 38 minutes per game led the league, and with Embiid appearing in just 38 regular-season games and Paul George limited to 37, Nick Nurse leaned on Maxey to generate offense. VJ Edgecombe helped at times, but 2026-27 figures to look different.
If Embiid misses time again - he hasn’t reached 40 regular-season games since 2022-23 - and James, who turns 42 in December, also sits out stretches, Brown can be the release valve Maxey didn’t always have. That fits the way Nurse wants the offense to work, too.
The Sixers under Nurse have made a habit of hunting mismatches and leaning into isolation basketball. In 2025-26, they took the second-most isolation shots per game in the NBA at 9.3, and they scored 0.92 points per possession on those plays, which ranked 15th.
Maxey carried more than twice as many isolation attempts as any other Sixer. Embiid and George were efficient enough there - 1.01 points per possession for Embiid and 1.03 for George - but their availability was too spotty to keep Maxey from wearing the burden.
Brown brings a cleaner answer. Last season with the Celtics, he scored the third-most isolation points in the league and posted 1.01 points per isolation possession, good for the 77th percentile.
The preseason has already flashed that side of his game. In the opener against the Knicks, he went right at OG Anunoby, a two-time All-Defensive Second Team selection, and buried a tough baseline fadeaway.
His comfort in the mid-range is a big part of what makes him such a difficult cover. That area has faded from the modern game, but Brown thrived there last season, hitting 45.9% of his shots from 10 to 19 feet on 6.4 attempts per game.
He can hurt defenses in pick-and-roll, too. The Sixers were middle of the pack in how often they used ball screens and how efficient they were when they did.
Maxey handled 7.5 of the team’s 16.1 ball-screen possessions per game, generating 0.92 points per possession. Brown posted almost the same number - 0.93 points per possession on 6.4 such looks per game in 2025-26 - and that kind of production is exactly why he can lighten Maxey’s load.
Against the Knicks, Brown used an Ariel Hukporti screen, kept his dribble slow and patient, put OG Anunoby on his hip and then punished Karl-Anthony Towns’ drop coverage by blowing into the open lane.
He also looks dangerous when defenses decide to switch. At 6-foot-6 and 223 pounds, he’s built to give smaller defenders problems and still has the twitch to work against bigger ones.
Brooklyn learned that quickly. An Edgecombe screen forced a switch that put the 6-foot-4, 175-pound Keon Ellis on Brown, and even with help collapsing, Brown powered to the rim and finished through contact.
That’s the same basic recipe he uses against guards: get into the paint, dribble them down toward the post and use his strength to win. When the switch brings a big man, he can just as easily pull back and rise into a jumper, like the fadeaway he hit over Noah Clowney’s outstretched arm.
Brown can also create those mismatches without the ball in his hands. He set a screen for Labaron Philon Jr. that led Brooklyn to switch between the 6-foot-8 Egor Demin and the 6-foot-8 Chaney Johnson. Demin tried to crowd him, but Brown absorbed the contact, ripped the ball across his chest, dribbled between his legs, crossed back to his left hand and then used his gather step to open space for an 11-foot floater.
That mix of strength, balance and burst is what makes Brown so valuable in Nurse’s offense. He can beat switches, punish drop coverage, create off the dribble and share the load with Maxey. Through two preseason games, he’s done exactly that.
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