The Boston Celtics sent shockwaves across the basketball world when they agreed to trade Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers for an incredibly underwhelming return. The Celtics are only getting Paul George, a 2028 first-round pick, a 2031 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2030 second-round pick for Brown, and they have been hammered from all corners for this trade.
We haven’t heard anything from Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens about this move, as it isn’t official just yet, but assistant coach Sam Cassell has now spoken to WBZ News about it.
“Well, we won a championship with Jaylen Brown in Boston,” Cassell said. “Jaylen has done everything possible for this city… He’ll be missed, but it is the NBA. Wilt Chamberlain got traded after he averaged 50 points one year. So it happens. Trades happens in this league. I wish nothing but the best for Jaylen Brown. He’s a hell of a basketball player, a great person, and life goes on.”
We have seen big names get traded over the years, and it did look likely that Brown was going to be moved this offseason. That was because the Celtics had included the five-time All-Star in their package for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Milwaukee Bucks ended up trading him to the Miami Heat.
The relationship between Brown and the Celtics had to have deteriorated to some extent after that. A trade, in general, wasn’t going to shock anybody, but the reason it has is because of the return.
Two first-round picks aren’t enough when the player you’re getting is George. The 36-year-old is very much in decline, and averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game for the 76ers in 2025-26.
To go with that, George, who has two years and $114 million left on his contract, is injury-prone and just served a 25-game suspension last season for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program. He certainly isn’t what you’d call a valuable asset at this point in his career, but Cassell thinks he’ll do well with the Celtics.
“Good man, plays hard,” Cassell said. “Just gotta understand how we wanna play, and he’ll be fine here. Get him here, he don’t have to try to be Jaylen Brown. He’s gotta be Paul George. That’s all we need him to be.”
What is Paul George now, though? He is no longer an All-Star caliber player and is best suited to be the third option on a good team. The Celtics definitely haven’t gotten better by swapping Brown for him. Cassell, who has been with the team since 2023, believes, however, that they’ll do well.
“We’ll be fine,” Cassell said. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out. The game’s played on the basketball court. We’ll figure that part out.”
Now, the Celtics had been written off before the start of last season, as Jayson Tatum had torn his Achilles tendon in the 2025 playoffs, and they had traded away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. They were expected to struggle even to make the playoffs in 2026.
The Celtics, though, would clinch their spot in the playoffs by the end of March. They would finish the season with an excellent 56-26 record, which was good enough to be the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
Brown was a big reason for all their success. The 29-year-old averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game, and finished sixth in MVP voting.
You’d imagine Tatum should be able to do something similar in Brown’s absence. The Celtics should be just fine in the regular season, but it’s hard to be optimistic about their chances in the playoffs. They just lost to the 76ers in the first round with Tatum and Brown, and won’t be going far in 2027 with just one of the Jays.
