Jaylen Brown is still figuring out what life looks like after Boston, and he’s not hiding the awkwardness. After a decade with the Celtics, where he won his first and only NBA championship so far, the switch to the Philadelphia 76ers has clearly taken some getting used to. But Brown says he’s settled into the new reality enough now to joke about the old one.
On his latest livestream, Brown compared the Celtics to an ex-girlfriend, describing the feeling of seeing them now like an unexpected run-in in public.
“It’s just life,” said Brown on a livestream. “It’s like running into your ex out in public.
Like, dang, we used to go together, and you look at them and just, like, dang. And you just gotta go about your business.”
It’s a strange comparison, but it fits the emotional mess that can come with a sudden trade. Brown still sounds like a player who hasn’t fully detached from the place where everything started. Boston was where his NBA career opened in 2016, when the Celtics took him third overall and spent years molding him into a star.
That patience paid off in a big way. Brown developed year by year into one of the league’s premier two-way wings, and by the end of his Celtics run he had become a franchise centerpiece. His Boston résumé includes a championship, a Finals MVP award, and averages of 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game on 47.8% shooting from the field.
So when Boston moved him this summer in a deal for an aging Paul George and picks, the decision clearly landed hard. Instead of being rewarded after the best statistical season of his career, Brown was sent out, and he viewed it as a betrayal.
Now he’s in Philadelphia with LeBron James, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey, and the Celtics are the team on the other side of the break. Brown has a chance to make Boston regret the move, but the real challenge is keeping the emotions from swallowing the opportunity.
If he wants to make that “ex” jealous, Brown will have to play the best basketball of his life and help the 76ers reach places they have seen in decades. That kind of run will depend heavily on him, and by all accounts he’s locked in. In his first season away from Boston, Brown is eager to show a different version of himself, and that alone could leave the Celtics wondering whether they let the wrong one get away.
In Other News...
Jaylen Browns Boston Return Already Feels Awkward For The 76ers
Jaylen Browns first return to Boston in a 76ers uniform already has the feel of a strange subplot, even before the regular season gives it real weight. The Celtics traded Brown to Philadelphia in the offseason, and when the teams met in the 76ers third preseason game, he was not on the floor for the matchup that naturally drew extra attention.
Brown also kept a low profile around the building, while a viral pregame post added to the awkwardness by showing him and former teammate Jayson Tatum seemingly steering clear of each other during warmups. The 76ers will see Boston again later in the season, which means this uneasy reunion is likely just getting started. [Read more 🡒]
Joel Embiid Is Facing A New 76ers Problem Already
Joel Embiid is already dealing with the kind of noise that tends to follow a star player into a new season, and it showed up during a preseason game when a report tied him to an awkward sideline moment with LeBron James. The backdrop matters here: with LeBron and Jaylen Brown now on the 76ers, every small interaction around the team is going to be watched a little more closely, and Embiid is again at the center of that attention.
Embiid pushed back on the story, and the broader point may be even more important than the specifics of one exchange. He has long been a lightning rod for media narratives, and this latest round only reinforces how quickly outside chatter can become part of the conversation around Philadelphia. For a team trying to settle in around its new mix of stars, the challenge is not just what happens on the court, but how much oxygen every sideline detail can consume. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Lineup Choices In Boston Sent An Early Message
The preseason trip to Boston offered a clearer look at how the Sixers want to sort through the edges of their roster when the regulars are not all available. Philadelphia was shorthanded enough to make the night feel more like a lineup exercise than a true measuring stick, and the result was secondary to the chance to see how different pieces fit in a tougher road setting against a Celtics group that had its own new faces making an impression.
Dean Wade drew the start for Philadelphia and gave the staff a useful look at his defensive range, including time checking Jayson Tatum and sliding into a small-ball center role. The Sixers took the loss, but the bigger takeaway may have been that they came out of it without adding to their injury worries, which matters more in October than a preseason score ever could. [Read more 🡒]