Bob Myers Sends Powerful Message to Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown is arriving in Philadelphia with something the 76ers desperately wanted: championship experience.

Former Warriors executive Bob Myers opened up about the blockbuster deal that brought Brown to Philadelphia and revealed the message he delivered to the former Finals MVP immediately after the trade.

“We needed an edge, and I think Jaylen Brown sets an edge,” Myers said on the Cousins podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. “To win a championship, you need guys that are of that ilk, that are comfortable being uncomfortable… I talked to him the day after [the trade] and said ‘don’t ever underestimate that you are a champion. And that there is power in that, so use that with this team.’ And I said, we need you to lead, so I’m going to ask you to lead.”

Myers also revealed how Philadelphia realized there was a legitimate opportunity to acquire Brown during conversations with Celtics president Brad Stevens.

“You start hearing there was a possibility, and the job then became is this a real thing with Jaylen Brown? Is it a real thing? I think Brad Stevens is one of the most straight shooters in the league,” Myers said. “So when you, when you work in the NBA as an executive, you usually have at least one or two, I don’t want to say transactions with every other GM. So you know, if I call Tracy, I go, hey, you want to make a deal? He might be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then he does, I mean, that’s like, I know not you’re not this way. But I, you have to understand like he’s honest, or he, he might tell me what I want to hear, or he might lie to me. This dude just might just lie. He lied to me two years ago, he’s going to lie to me again. That’s not Brad Stevens. So when Brad Stevens, um, responded with, what are you offering? Then you knew that there was a shot. Yeah. And so then it becomes 50 conversations, um, towards one, both organizations did a great job not leaking that, which is impossible. That’s literally impossible.”