After leading the Celtics to the No. 2 seed in the East without Jayson Tatum for most of the season, Jaylen Brown reportedly needed more than Boston was willing to give. Jay King of The Athletic reported that the 2024 NBA Finals MVP wanted to be held in higher regard (subscription required), but that didn't happen, as Brad Stevens agreed to trade him to the Philadelphia 76ers.
That was the backdrop when, in the aftermath of Boston’s playoff exit, Brown made it clear to the front office that he wanted to be treated more like a franchise player on and off the court, according to league sources.
Brown averaged a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds (matching his 2022-23 mark), 5.1 assists (another career mark), and 1.0 steals in 34.4 minutes over 71 games for the Celtics last season. He made the All-NBA Second Team, receiving the sixth-most votes and barely missing first-team honors.
While Tatum rehabbed a torn Achilles, Brown defied the narrative that Boston would have a gap year, leading the Celtics to 56 wins. They flamed out in the first round of the playoffs to the 76ers (which also helped get him to Philly), but it was still an impressive season.
You can understand why Brown reportedly wanted to be "treated more like a franchise player on and off the court." And it's a good thing for the 76ers that the Celtics opted to cut ties, sending him to Philadelphia, where he's not the No. 1 option but has helped breathe life back into a team that sits at the top of the East with a 9-2 record.
Brown wanted more than the Celtics were willing to give
After the July trade, Stevens highlighted how, under the collective bargaining agreement, it would've been tough to justify Brown and Tatum's salaries taking up 70 percent of the team's cap space. Taking on Paul George's salary in exchange for Brown eased those financial concerns, as he has only two seasons left on his current contract (including his player option), rather than three.
But if the Celtics really wanted to keep Brown, they could've. The pros didn't outweigh the cons, prompting the shocking trade to a rival.
It ended speculation about how Brown and Tatum felt about coexisting, at least in the sense that they were no longer teammates. Boston answered Brown's supposed franchise-player request by sending him to Philadelphia. Tension between the two stars has since been uncovered in the public eye, but that doesn't matter, at least not to the 76ers.
Brown is adjusting to his new role with the 76ers
The Celtics had no way of knowing that, by sending Brown to the 76ers, LeBron James would follow; regardless, he found himself on a team led by stars Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, with a budding star in VJ Edgecombe.
Brown isn't in the spotlight like he would've been if he had gone to a team that would've been happy to let him have the ball for 48 minutes a night. And he's done a good job of adjusting to that, following in Maxey's lead.
When the 76ers have needed Brown most, he's stepped up and taken the reins, posting a season-high 30 points in last week's win over the Pistons and pouring in 29 in Sunday's win over the Bulls. That's on top of his 6.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.
Philadelphia's end goal isn't to stack individual accolades but to combine its stars' strengths into a championship team. Brown seems perfectly fine with that. Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery, and luckily for him (and the 76ers), the Celtics did him a favor by giving him the best one.
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