Jaylen Brown’s comments about new $321m teammate resurface to set up awkward 76ers arrival

Another blockbuster trade domino has fallen in the NBA.

The Boston Celtics have dealt Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two-second round picks.

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The writing was on the wall for Brown’s career in Boston after it was made public that the Celtics were planning to use him as a centerpiece in a package formed to attempt to lure Giannis Antetokounmpo to the city.

Ultimately, the Milwaukee Bucks conducted their business with the Miami Heat, with reports citing that there were concerns from the Bucks brass that Brown may not have been willing to commit his long-term future to the NBA franchise.

For the 76ers though, they couldn’t pass on a five-time All-Star in his prime, and while they had to concede the loss of a lot of future draft capital, with former MVP Joel Embiid‘s championship window narrowing by the year, they have gone all in to try and maximize that.

George was the one who Philadelphia ultimately had to sacrifice, though an argument could be made that he had not lived up to his four-year, $212 million price tag, and is an ageing star who has just turned 36-years-old.

Now, Brown joins $321 million Embiid and a young back-court of two-time NBA All-Star Tyrese Maxey and rising star V.J. Edgecombe, who is coming off the back of a strong rookie campaign out of Baylor.

However, there may be some tension to be squashed once Brown arrives in the City of Brotherly Love.

This is because of some comments he made about Embiid back in May after the Celtics suffered a first-round series exit in the 2025-26 playoffs by Philadelphia, despite having, at one point, held a 3-1 series lead.

“This is my personal opinion on basketball, some of y’all might disagree. But flopping has ruined our game,” Brown said on a livestream back in May.

“Joel Embiid is a great player. One of the best bigs in f****** basketball history flops. He knows it. This ain’t breaking news. You see, you know what I mean? It is what it is.”

In light of this blockbuster trade, these comments have resurfaced on social media, which has got the fans talking, and largely positively at that.

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“Best teammate to have..one that hold you accountable ,” one fan wrote on X.

“These guys care about winning a chip that this will be water under the bridge by the end of the week,” a second user wrote.

“Ngl Jaylen seems like a pretty logical dude he’ll probably have a conversation with bro and they’ll move on and start winning games. This a non issue,” a third added.

Boston’s long-standing core broken up

With Brown heading to Philadelphia for pastures new, this sees the Celtics break up their $617.6 million duo of him and Jayson Tatum.

In nine seasons together, the All-NBA tandem led them to the playoffs on each occasion, including two NBA Finals appearances in 2022 and 2024, the latter of which they won the championship.

For Brown, he has a 7% trade kicker in his five-year, $304 million supermax extension, or a maximum of $7 million, whichever is lower, according to Spotrac.

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Therefore, this clause has now triggered a financial bonus to the 2024 Finals MVP’s base salary, though the total of this cannot exceed 35 percent of the Sixers’ salary cap.

Now Tatum will have a new partner in George, though there are some injury concerns already lingering, with the nine-time All-Star suiting up just 78 times for Philadelphia across two seasons.

His numbers all across the board – 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists – were down on his career averages across 16 years in the Association.

Therefore, this has some arguing that this trade is one of the worst in Boston’s illustrious 17 championship-winning history.

“It’s a hideous swap. One that has New England reeling as Basketball America shakes its head,” Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe wrote.

“Jaylen Brown for Paul George and draft picks? A washed Paul George, who is often hurt and last year got whacked for 25 games due to ingesting a banned substance? Were Wicks and Rowe not available?

“It often takes years to assess a sports swap, but we don’t have time to do that today. All we have is here and now . . . suspicions that Celtics new ownership is not about winning, and that Stevens got taken.

“At this hour, the trading of Jaylen Brown can only be viewed as one of the worst trades in Boston sports history.”

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