Brad Stevens laid out the math behind trading Jaylen Brown, and it came down to a number â 70 percent of the salary cap tied up in two players.
The Boston Celtics president of basketball operations addressed the deal that sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers during a Monday press conference, held after the trade became official. Stevens framed the decision as a response to where the league is headed, not a referendum on Brown’s talent.
“When I looked at our team, and I looked at where the league was heading, looked at the way that we’ve finished the last couple years, and also looked at the unbelievable way we’ve played in the regular season in the last couple years… the path looked a little bit more challenging to me,” Stevens said.
Jaylen Brown’s Cap Number Became the Obstacle
Stevens acknowledged the possibility that his read on the situation could prove wrong. He tied the decision to roster construction math that modern championship teams increasingly depend on.
“I might be wrong, I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that, but the path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players,” Stevens said. He pointed to the difficulty of building depth “that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual” as the driving force, adding the Celtics still needed to “diversify our attack overall.”
The comments arrived two months after Boston blew a 3-1 series lead to Philadelphia in the first round of the 2026 playoffs, a collapse that closed out one of the more successful chapters in franchise history. Brown scored 33 points in the Game 7 loss.
Boston Turned to Paul George After Missing on Giannis
The trade sent Brown to Philadelphia in exchange for veteran forward Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, a package that came together after Boston struck out on Giannis Antetokounmpo, who instead landed with the Miami Heat. Stevens insisted the return needed to check two boxes: immediate help around Jayson Tatum and future draft capital for subsequent moves.
“All that being said, still wasn’t, still would not have made a move unless we thought the right opportunity presented itself,” Stevens said.
He called the decision brutal on a personal level.
“At the end of the day, we made what I think was a really hard decision, one that comes with a lot of very little sleep to do the trade,” Stevens said.
Stevens separated the basketball logic from anything personal about Brown, noting a player of Brown’s caliber should be featured on any roster fortunate enough to have him.
Brown, a five-time All-Star who won the 2024 Finals MVP award alongside Tatum, spent a decade in Boston after arriving as the third overall pick in the 2016 draft out of California. He finished sixth in this year’s MVP voting after averaging career-high numbers across the board while Tatum missed extended time.
Brown addressed his exit publicly for the first time during a Twitch livestream, telling viewers he felt disrespected by how Boston handled his departure. Stevens made clear in his statement that the move reflected no shortage of respect for what Brown built in Boston, even as the front office bet its future on distributing the load differently.
Brown now joins a Philadelphia frontcourt already featuring Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the same duo that eliminated Boston from the playoffs months earlier, instantly sharpening an Atlantic Division rivalry.
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