ESPN’s Shams Charania dropped the summer’s biggest shocker, and the ripple effect didn’t stop with Boston and Philadelphia. The Celtics are reportedly sending All-NBA guard Jaylen Brown to the 76ers, and the return has left plenty of people wondering how that package became the best offer on the table.
Boston is said to be getting 36-year-old Paul George, along with two first-round picks and two second-round picks. For a player coming off his strongest season yet, that’s a return that has raised eyebrows across the league.
Brown just posted 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 47.7% from the field and 34.7% from 3-point range. He also finished sixth in MVP voting. That makes the deal feel even stranger, especially with Boston sending him to an Eastern Conference rival instead of moving him elsewhere.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, adds Brown to a group that already includes former MVP Joel Embiid, All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey and rising talent VJ Edgecombe.
The trade also puts a spotlight on Phoenix and its own recent move. The Suns sent Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale and their own unprotected 2033 first-round pick to land Miles Bridges, a 28-year-old who has never been an All-Star. With Brown now available in this kind of deal, it’s fair to ask why Phoenix didn’t at least explore that route.
Maybe Allen and O’Neale, even with picks, still wouldn’t have gotten the Suns into the conversation. But 24-year-old Jalen Green, the former No. 2 overall pick, is another asset Phoenix could have put in play. Whether Boston would have valued him highly is unclear, but he looks like a cleaner win-now piece than an aging George.
That’s part of what makes the Brown return so hard to digest. Reports had Brown upset after being mentioned in trade rumors for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was eventually dealt to the Miami Heat, yet Boston still wound up with a package that feels light for a player of Brown’s caliber.
George’s deal has long been viewed as a tough one, and the contrast with the contracts of Green, Allen and O’Neale only makes that clearer. George is owed about $54 million next season and has a player option worth roughly $56.5 million in 2027-28. With his injuries and declining production, it would be a surprise if he doesn’t take it.
For Phoenix, Brown would have changed the ceiling right away in a way Bridges simply doesn’t. Fit would still have been a question, but the talent jump alone would have made for a far more compelling swing.
Instead, Brown heads to Philadelphia for a fresh start, and Suns fans are left looking at Boston’s return and wondering what might have been.
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Brian Gregory has already sounded convinced Peat is wired to make the jump in Phoenix, pointing to the work ethic and coachability that tend to matter once the draft-night buzz fades. For a Suns organization that wants immediate help but also long-term growth, that combination is easy to imagine fitting in quickly, especially if Peat keeps showing the sort of traits that let a young player handle tougher teaching and still keep moving forward. [Read more 🡒]