Jaylen Brown’s move to the Philadelphia 76ers has already created one of the strangest storylines of the offseason, and now it comes with an added twist: his old team apparently plans to honor him in a big way someday.
Celtics president Brad Stevens recently said Brown’s No. 7 jersey will likely be raised to the rafters at TD Garden. For a player who helped deliver a championship to Boston just a couple of years ago, that kind of recognition fits. It also lands with some awkward timing, given how badly things apparently broke down between Brown and the Celtics brass.
Brown’s departure from Boston came after a messy stretch that started with an early playoff exit, one that followed an unlikely upset at the hands of the 76ers after Boston had been down 3-1 in the first round. From there, the Celtics reportedly tried to swing big, targeting Giannis Antetokounmpo and planning to center a return package around the 2024 Finals MVP. When that deal collapsed and Giannis wound up in Miami instead, Brown’s connection to the franchise was effectively finished.
Boston then moved him to Philadelphia in a win-now deal that included what the front office believed was enough draft capital to make the trade work.
Now Brown heads to Philly with real playoff and Finals experience, joining a 76ers roster that also added LeBron James. On paper, that gives Philadelphia the most formidable team in the East. The Celtics, meanwhile, are left with plenty of questions surrounding their new pairing of Jayson Tatum and Paul George.
The rivalry between the 76ers and Celtics is only going to get louder from here, and Brown is right at the center of it. Even so, Boston’s reported plan to eventually retire his jersey shows that the championship he helped deliver still matters, no matter how strange the route to that honor looks now.
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From Durants perspective, the details matter almost as much as the name on the jersey. He noted that LeBron taking a minimum contract gives the Sixers a rare blend of talent and flexibility, while also giving them the benefit of a championship-winning coach and front office behind it. For Philadelphia, the bigger question now is whether all of those pieces can actually turn promise into the kind of season Durant believes is there to be had. [Read more 🡒]
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The problem for Philadelphia is that Browns scoring volume is not easy to replace, and the Celtics are betting they can spread that responsibility around while leaning on Georges two-way impact. If that works, Boston could still be a major problem for the Sixers in the East, especially if the new rotation finds its footing quickly. Even after the trade, there is enough talent in place to make Philadelphia wonder whether the path past Boston really got any easier. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Sees One Big Question In LeBron's Sixers Fit
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Durant went a step further by comparing the Sixers depth to the championship Golden State teams he played on in 2017 and 2018, a reminder that star power alone is not always the hardest part to manage. For Philadelphia, the big question is less about whether the talent is there and more about how all those high-scoring pieces are going to mesh once the games start to matter. [Read more 🡒]