Jaylen Brown’s run in Boston has come to a stunning close, as the Celtics have agreed to ship him across the rivalry divide to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brown — the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star, and the fourth-highest scorer in the league this past season — is headed to Philadelphia, according to a source familiar with the agreement who spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity, citing the fact that the trade still awaits required league approval.
In return, Boston will receive Paul George along with a package of draft selections that could amount to two first-round picks and two second-round picks, the source said. ESPN was first to report the deal, which was subsequently confirmed by The Boston Globe.
The move is the latest in a series of major roster shakeups around the NBA this offseason. LeBron James is departing the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent, while other headline deals have included Giannis Antetokounmpo moving from Milwaukee to Miami, a swap between the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers centered on Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram, and Ja Morant being sent from Memphis to Portland.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wasted no time reacting on social media, writing: “Welcome to Philly, JB! Sixers get way better and, as a bonus, the Celtics got worse!”
The trade dissolves one of the most productive duos in recent NBA history. Brown and Jayson Tatum formed the backbone of the team that won the 2024 NBA championship. With Tatum sidelined for much of this past season recovering from an Achilles tear suffered during the 2025 playoffs, Brown shouldered an even heavier burden — finishing with career-high averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game.
Reports had surfaced that Brown felt undervalued in Boston, particularly after it emerged that the Celtics had included him in trade discussions with Milwaukee when Antetokounmpo was available. Over the weekend, Brown took to social media to make his case: “Nobody has won more combined regular-season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago.” The numbers back him up — Boston has won 523 games with Brown in uniform, including postseason contests, which is six more than Denver has won with Nikola Jokic over the same stretch.
Brown now heads to a Philadelphia squad that already features guard Tyrese Maxey and center Joel Embiid — the latter of whom Brown recently called a flopper during a livestream. Brown didn’t mince words, saying: “Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in (expletive) basketball history. Flops. He know it. This ain’t breaking news.”
The potential trio of Brown, Maxey — who ranked fifth in the league in scoring this past season — and Embiid, a two-time NBA scoring champion, could be a formidable force. The fact that Boston played a hand in assembling that group only deepens the mystery around why the Celtics chose to move Brown at all.
For Paul George, the trade closes the book on a deeply disappointing two-year stretch in Philadelphia. The 36-year-old, who was acquired with two years remaining on a four-year, $212 million contract, never came close to recapturing the All-Star form that earned him nine selections at that level. His time with the Sixers was further derailed by a 25-game suspension last season after he failed a drug test, with George citing mental health reasons for the violation of the NBA’s anti-drug program.
George averaged just 16.7 points across his two seasons in Philadelphia — a stark drop from the nine consecutive seasons in which he eclipsed 20 points per game while playing for Indiana, Oklahoma City, and the Los Angeles Clippers. His first year was plagued by knee and adductor injuries that led to one of the worst statistical seasons of his career, averaging 16.2 points in only 41 games. He then underwent surgery on his left knee in July and missed the first 12 games of the following season.
The deal marks the first major move under new team president Mike Gansey, who took over after Daryl Morey was let go. Morey was fired following the Sixers’ inability to advance past the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs during his tenure. Philadelphia was swept by the eventual NBA champion Knicks in last season’s second round — though not before pulling off a stunning comeback from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate Boston in the first round.
Brown himself reflected on that series after the Game 7 defeat: “Philadelphia is a good basketball team” — words that now carry extra weight, given that he’ll soon be suiting up for them. His mission going forward will be to make that good team even better — and chase the franchise’s first title since 1983, something a succession of stars including Ben Simmons, James Harden, and George all failed to deliver when paired alongside Embiid and Maxey.
