Jaylen Brown is now officially a 76ers player. With the end of the NBA moratorium and the official beginning of free agency, the Celtics hosted a press conference to finalize and address the media for the first time since they traded the MVP candidate.
Some believed it was a fallout between Brown and the front office over his inclusion in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, while others pointed to the Celtics’ financial concerns due to the second apron.
There were a lot of questions and speculations over why the 2023-24 NBA champions decided to trade the former Finals MVP. Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, finally clarified why they decided to trade Jaylen Brown for a 36-year-old Paul George.
“As Jaylen and I sat down in early June and talked about a potential future in Boston or elsewhere, I told him that if we were ever to trade Jaylen, that would be a really sad day for me personally.”
“And certainly, the emotions that all of us have felt and the consternation we’ve all felt have been tied a lot less to the moments of highlights in a game, but a lot more to meaningfulness to fans, meaningfulness to the people in our building, and just a meaningfulness of relationships.”
“So I’ve felt that I am with our fans in feeling that. I think Bill would say the same. I think Bill and I have talked about how our kids have felt that. And so, I do think that we are empathetic and understand that this is a really hard thing.”
“From a basketball perspective, I think that there are a lot of different angles that we have to consider in every move we make. And there’s all the information that we have access to that will ultimately inform each of those moves.”
“When I looked at our team, and I looked at where the league was heading, looked at the way that we’ve finished the last couple of years, and also looked at the unbelievable way we’ve played in the regular season the last couple of years.”
“The path looked a little bit more challenging to me. I might be wrong, I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that, but the path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percentage of our usage tied to two players,” admitted Stevens.
“And the reality in this era and in this day and age of the NBA and you could see it obviously with with the last couple of champions and some of the teams that were at the very top of the league when it was all said and done at the end of this year is that you know you have to do a great job and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual.”
“And that’s not an easy thing to do, right? And we get that. And that’s absolutely nothing against Jaylen, right? If you have Jaylen Brown on your team, you should feature him. You should use all those possessions, and you should approach things that way.”
“But I think the importance of depth, and then obviously we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall. All that being said, still would not have made a move unless we thought the right opportunity presented itself.”
“Obviously, there was a lot of talk in the media. This was not a secret, right? I can tell you, and all of you who know me know that’s not coming from me. Everything we do, everything I do, is close to the vest, and you all know that.”
“But it was very loud, and obviously there was a lot of talk everywhere. But we still weren’t going to do anything unless we felt like it was the right return.”
“And the return for us was twofold, right? It was, number one: is there an opportunity to get somebody in the door or get tools that could allow you to get others in the door that could keep you at a very good level?”
“And number two, would there be assets attached that would then be usable in future deals? At the end of the day, we made what I think was a really hard decision. One that comes with a lot of very little sleep to do the trade.”
In 2026-27, Jaylen Brown is owed a salary of $57 million, and Jayson Tatum is expected to earn a salary of $58.5 million. Therefore, $115.5 million out of a $209 million hard cap on salaries would only be divided among two players (55% of the salary cap) had they not traded Brown.
While the former Finals MVP was up for an extension, as per the current contract of this duo, they would have earned $131 million of their salary cap in the 2028-29 season if the former Finals MVP had not been traded. Thus, the front office decided that one of these two players needs to go.
As Jayson Tatum is coming off a season where he spent most of the year on the bench while recovering from an ACL injury, it is reasonable to assume that they felt they could command a lot more value if they traded Brown.
But their expectations quickly came trickling down as per reports since their initial asking price for Brown made several potential suitors exit the race. So Stevens has clearly clarified that this was a purely financial decision and not based on a fallout with Brown or any issues with who he is as a player.
Yet, there were speculations in the media that Jayson Tatum had a role in giving the green light to trade Brown. Stevens clarified that he did not ask Jayson Tatum for his input before the decision.
“Jayson is a friend of Jaylen, right? And so we have not talked in great depth about that. I think that, you know, again, I didn’t keep him in the loop. I didn’t talk to him the next day. I didn’t want to put that on him or anyone else who’s in the playing group,” Stevens later said.
“I know how little I sleep. I don’t nobody else needs to feel that. And I think ultimately, you know, when you put in the work and the sweat with somebody for nine years, you know, there’s obviously going to be a great appreciation for that person,” said Stevens while detailing if Tatum had any role in the trade beyond being an equal burden to the Celtics’ financials.
So this clears up all the rumors about Jaylen Brown’s alleged fallout with the Celtics’ front office, and it means Tatum had nothing to do with their decision to trade the former Finals MVP. Tatum also wrote a heartwarming message for Brown after he found out about the trade.
But seeing the Celtics should teach other teams around the league a lesson about what happens in the harsh aftermath of finishing the season over the second apron for even one season. The Celtics look nowhere close to the roster that won the championship with them in 2024.
I fear that the concerns Kyle Kuzma highlighted about the CBA following the application of the second apron may have substance. While the league has become colder as a business, it has also created a lot more uncertainty for any player over their own future if an MVP candidate can be traded like this.
Hopefully, the Thunder or the Knicks are not compelled to trade a major piece like the Celtics, as they also tiptoe around the concerns of crossing the second apron threshold. I know that this rule was put in place to avoid the creation of superteams, but if this is also leaving players much more concerned over their future, then this is something the league needs to closely look into.
Do you think the second apron has created more equality in the league? Or has it completely worsened the problem that it was aimed to fix? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
