It's been a strange few months to be a Celtics fan. Boston shipped Jaylen Brown to the 76ers this offseason in a deal that brought back Paul George and a haul of draft picks, ending a decade-long run that included a Finals MVP and a championship banner. Now the guy who wore green for 10 years is lining up next to LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia, and the front office that traded him is already talking about hanging his jersey from the rafters.
Brad Stevens says Jaylen Brown’s No. 7 jersey will likely go up in the rafters in Boston, per @ByAveryHill
That's Brad Stevens on the record, telling Boston media that Brown's number will likely go up eventually. It's a notable thing for a GM to say about a guy he just traded away, but Stevens hasn't hidden how hard the call was — he's described the process as "brutal" and admitted he hasn't been sleeping great since pulling the trigger. That's the tension at the center of this: the front office believes it made the right basketball move, but nobody's pretending Brown wasn't a franchise cornerstone.
On the other side of the trade, Sixers president Bob Myers has been telling his own version of how this all came together — and it wasn't just about acquiring Brown. Myers has also been open about how central he was in recruiting LeBron James to Philadelphia as a free agent, turning an already loaded roster into something that looks like a super team on paper.
"You start hearing there was a possibility and the job then became is this a real thing with Jaylen Brown? ... When Brad Stevens responded with, 'What are you offering?' Then you knew that there was a shot." —Bob Myers (via @VinceAndTmac)
Myers has framed LeBron's decision to sign with Philly as a straightforward basketball calculation, not sentiment — LeBron picking the roster he thought gave him the best shot at another ring, not a hometown pull or nostalgia play. Pairing that with the Brown trade gives the Sixers a starting five that reads like a fantasy roster: Joel Embiid, Maxey, Brown and LeBron all in the same building.
Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and LeBron James are putting in the WORK 😤 How far can the 76ers go this season? (via chrisjohnsonhoops/IG)
The obvious question now is whether all that talent actually fits, and whether Brown can be himself playing alongside two other high-usage stars instead of being the engine of the offense like he was in Boston. But that's a September problem. Right now the story is simpler: a franchise guy got traded, the team that traded him is already saying his number belongs on the wall, and he's about to try to beat his old team with the guy who spent a decade beating everybody else in the East.