The Jaylen Brown trade was a risk that the Sixers had to take

Nearly 48 hours after the Sixers agreed to trade Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks to the Boston Celtics for Jaylen Brown, the consensus appears to be that the Sixers made out like bandits.

ESPN’s Zach Kram gave the Sixers an A- and the Celtics a D+ for the trade. CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn gave the Sixers an A+ and the Celtics a D-. Yahoo Sports’ Morten Stig Jensen was more generous in giving the Celtics a B, but he still gave the Sixers an A.

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However, that opinion isn’t universal. Liberty Ballers’ own Josh Grieb expressed his reservations with the deal, and to be completely honest, I also flinched when the news first hit my timeline. (Granted, that was before I realized that one of the two first-rounders they gave up was in 2028 rather than 2033.)

Chalk it up to Markelle Fultz PTSD if you must. Maybe you’re an analytics nerd who’s overly concerned about Brown’s on/off splits in recent years. That’s ignoring the context in which the Sixers made this trade, though.

Look up any recent ranking of the worst contracts in the league. George routinely appeared toward the top of the list. Even rankings that featured Brown had George ranked higher.

George has one fewer year left on his contract and will not be commanding anything close to a 35 percent max on his next deal, sure. Brown very well might be overpaid relative to his production, both now and moving forward.

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But this was a risk that the Sixers had to take.

So long, Sixers apathy

As of midday Wednesday, apathy would likely be the best way to describe how most fans felt about the Sixers.

Adding Dean Wade was fine in a vacuum. Signing Ariel Hukporti to an above-minimum contract was eyebrow-raising, and not in a good way. Adding Wade and Hukporti while losing Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. hardly moved the needle, particularly as other Eastern Conference teams were taking huge swings by adding the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard.

With Brown in tow, the Sixers can think bigger again. They dropped from +6000 to +2000 to win next year’s title after the deal, according to ESPN’s Doug…

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Publish date : 2026-07-03 18:52:00

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