Like Jaylen Brown said, he didn't demand a trade from the Celtics. However, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe reported Monday, the star gave Boston a list of teams (subscription required) he preferred to play for (and not play for) after learning the team was engaged in trade discussions. The Philadelphia 76ers weren't among them.
Brown never asked for a trade, but once informed the Celtics were shopping him, he submitted a list of his preferred destinations and teams he preferred not to play for. Philadelphia was on neither list.
Washburn added that the Nets were a team Brown wanted to play for, but that interest wasn't reciprocated. If he had gone to Brooklyn, he would've been the go-to guy. He could've led his own team, as he did with the Celtics last season, until Jayson Tatum returned in March after missing time recovering from a torn Achilles.
As Brown learned, just because he gave the Celtics a list of teams he was willing to play for (and those he wasn't) didn't mean Brad Stevens had to send him where he wanted to go. Boston found what it believed to be the best return package, and it just so happened to be in Philadelphia. And so far, that deal has worked well for both sides.
Hey, at least we know he wasn't against a trade to the 76ers!
The 76ers weren't on Jaylen Brown's list
Shortly after Philadelphia and Boston agreed to the trade, Brown said he was "excited and disappointed at the same time." No, the disappointment wasn't about being traded to the 76ers (he said he was grateful for the opportunity); it seemed to be about how the Celtics handled his situation.
He might've thought he'd go to a team where he'd be the No. 1 option, but he knew that wouldn't be the case in Philadelphia once the trade happened. And that became even more true after LeBron James signed with the 76ers a couple of weeks later. Brown went from playing under Tatum to sharing the floor with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and arguably the greatest player of all time.
Why would the 76ers have been on his radar? Like the rest of us, Brown probably thought he had no real chance of landing in Philadelphia, especially after the way Boston's 2025-26 season ended. It was like the Celtics gifted the 76ers a way out of Paul George's contract, turning the 36-year-old into a younger and more durable player who was only two years removed from winning NBA Finals MVP.
It was hard to believe at first, even for Brown. And although he's been in a 76ers jersey for the past few weeks, it will still feel weird to see him on Philadelphia's side when the team hosts Boston on Tuesday. It may even feel strange for him, too. But what matters is that he ended up where he was meant to be.
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