July 01, 2026
Winslow Townson/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Joel Embiid-led Sixers eliminated a Jaylen Brown-led Boston Celtics team in Game 7 of the first round of last season's playoffs.
In an absolutely stunning blockbuster trade, the Sixers are acquiring five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, according to a report from Shams Charania of ESPN.
Pick compensation to Boston, from
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) July 1, 2026
Philadelphia, sending Paul George to the Celtics and Jaylen Brown to the Sixers, per source:
2028 first-round pick that could convert from a first to a swap that is more favorable to Boston
2031 unprotected PHI first
2028 second round, most…
Brown, entering his age-30 season, has been dangled in trade negotiations by Boston, the team that drafted him No. 3 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, after the Celtics failed to package him for Giannis Antetokounmpo last month. The relationship between the Celtics and Brown appeared to be fractured beyond repair, despite Brown coming off the best individual season of his career.
In 71 games last season – most of which he played before Jayson Tatum's late-season return from injury – Brown averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. With Brown leading the way on offense, the Celtics won 56 games in a season many expected to be a "gap year" without Tatum.
Then came the playoffs, when the Sixers shockingly erased a 3-1 series deficit and, for the first time in Joel Embiid's career, eliminated the Celtics. Tatum missed the decisive Game 7 in Boston, and with Brown back at the head of the table, the Celtics did not have enough to withstand stellar performances from Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
Brown was not shy throughout the season about how much he was enjoying serving as Boston's lead option. And when the 2024 NBA Finals MVP called the 2025-26 season his "favorite" of his career, despite the Celtics' stunning first-round exit, controversy ensued. Then came the Antetokounmpo rumors, and since the two-time NBA MVP was dealt to the Miami Heat the Celtics have appeared unable to get the toothpaste back into the tube.
The Sixers are getting one of the highest-caliber wing scorers in the NBA in Brown, whose massive shot-taking volume is blended with modest efficiency and a high-turnover brand of basketball. Brown makes tough shots with the best of them, but is a limited ball-handler and shot creator. He will now partner with Maxey and Edgecombe as the pillars of the Sixers' future. He will do so on a gargantuan contract, nearly as large as Embiid's infamously massive remaining contract:
| Year | Salary |
| 2026-27 | $57,078,728 |
| 2027-28 | $61,015,192 |
| 2028-29 | $64,951,656 |
| Total | $183,045,576 |
There is no doubting Brown's track record in high-stakes action – he won Eastern Conference Finals MVP two years ago, too – but between his social-media rants and questionable quotes, this unfolding situation in Boston turned bizarre.
Now, Brown's 10-year Celtics tenure is over. And, most surprising of all, he is now joining the Sixers, the team he has faced more than any other in the NBA and the team that put an unofficial end to his time in Boston.
