The Boston Celtics have traded star Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, ESPN's Shams Charania reports. It's a savvy move by the 76ers to jump atop the Eastern Conference for relatively cheap, highlighting how cooked the market must have been for Brown.
We want to give Brad Stevens the benefit of the doubt given how well he's assembled Boston. But before this trade, they were arguably co-favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference along with the New York Knicks. That's officially gone out the window as they've seemingly embraced a retool around Jayson Tatum.
It's hard to believe there wasn't a better offer out there for the 2024 Finals MVP, though there were concerns surrounding Brown's analytical impact and whether he justified such a massive contract.
Blazers should've made this trade for Jaylen Brown
The Portland Trail Blazers made perfect sense as a potential landing spot for Brown given their need for a co-star alongside Deni Avdija. They pivoted to a cheaper, far worse fit in Ja Morant, electing for the reclamation project requiring no draft capital and a bad contract in Jerami Grant.
After the Morant deal, Portland now has four point guards on its roster between Morant, Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson, and Jrue Holiday. Apparently, they plan on starting Morant alongside Lillard in an undersized, offensive-minded backcourt. That led many to wonder whether Holiday or Henderson would be the next domino to fall.
In some ways, having another point guard in Morant made even more sense for Portland to pivot towards using its draft capital on Brown. A potential starting lineup of Morant, Lillard, Brown, Avdija, and Donovan Clingan would've been a top-four team out west, giving Lillard a chance to win with his closing window.
However, after the Morant deal, Charania reported that Portland wasn't involved in Brown trade talks, as they viewed Morant as their "big move."
Portland has failed Damian Lillard this offseason
If the Blazers had to send a massive haul to land Brown, we would've understood that stance. With Holiday's positional versatility and the uncertainty surrounding Henderson's development (and future in Portland, for that matter), they could've continued playing the long game.
The Blazers know Morant doesn't fit well but viewed it as a rare low-risk, high-reward move to land a two-time All-Star just entering his prime. Fans are excited that they finally have star power in Rip City, but the fact that they made such a relatively small blockbuster while subsequently sitting out the Brown sweepstakes tells you all you need to know about where they view this roster to be. Had they thought they were a Brown piece away from contention, a salary filler similar to Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks would've been an extremely reasonable price to pay.
Instead, Portland continues to sit on the sidelines waiting for the unwanted scraps in the hope they land a cheap star. It's disappointing that they didn't make this reasonable move for Brown to give Lillard even a puncher's chance at his first ring.
And now, there's another star off the table to make this team a serious contender. Portland seems fine with that, but it could set up for another wasted year for Lillard.
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