Examining the Jaylen Brown Trade
On the Jaylen Brown trade, details and probabilities of the 2028 first-round pick the Celtics got, where they go from here, why the Sixers had to do this, and why they must trade Joel Embiid next.
There’s maybe no team’s salary cap situation more chronicled in Third Apron’s brief existence than the Celtics’. It was well known they would need to blow up a big chunk of their championship core right as they won the title. Just about everyone was on the table last year outside of Jayson Tatum in trades that would significantly reduce payroll and get them under the second apron.
The main cap casualties came by trading veterans like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for salary relief. They also let Al Horford and Luke Kornet leave in free agency for deals well above the minimum. They could’ve gone further by trading Jaylen Brown or Derrick White for a haul of draft picks and young players. It would’ve set them back further temporarily, but if executed well, it could’ve potentially set up the second half of the Tatum era really well.
They chose to keep Brown and White and roll with their group rather than position themselves for a high lottery pick. That decision looked brilliant as they dominated the Eastern Conference during the regular season. They locked in the second seed and were viewed by many as the top team in the East with Tatum returning just in time for the playoffs. Their regular-season success didn’t translate in the playoffs, as they blew a 3-1 lead to the Sixers in the first round.
Despite the disappointing loss, they set themselves up for long-term success. The Celtics found a way to get under the luxury tax line before the playoffs without giving up any additional core players or a single first-round pick. Their trade deadline moves also put them in a position to duck the tax in the upcoming 2026-27 season. Doing so would get them out of the repeater tax and put them in position to spend deep into the luxury tax in the three subsequent seasons.
Those plans will need to be adjusted after trading Brown to the Sixers for Paul George and two first-round picks. A trade wasn’t surprising since it was rumored to be a possibility and even seemed like an eventuality. It’s the destination, a division rival they just lost to in the playoffs, and the return, an aging former All-Star and just two first-round picks, that is shocking to fans.
