Jaylen Brown had spent his entire NBA career in Boston, helped deliver a championship and was coming off a season in which he led the Celtics in scoring and finished sixth in MVP voting.
But when the opportunity came to move the All-NBA star, Celtics owner Bill Chisholm ultimately put his trust in Brad Stevens and Boston’s front office.
Chisholm admitted his initial reaction was that of a Celtics fan rather than an owner.
“I definitely have a level of trust in Brad and his team. But man, as a fan, that was tough,” Chisholm said, via WEEI’s Greg Hill Show. “I really needed to be convinced to take the fan passion out of it, because I’m a super fan, was tough. You have to be a sociopath if you don’t worry a little bit about what other fans are going to think…
“We’ve got the best brains in basketball, and this was something they had conviction around.”
Boston ultimately sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal that brought 36-year-old Paul George and multiple first-round picks back to the Celtics.
For Stevens, the reasoning behind moving Brown largely came down to Boston’s long-term financial situation.
“The path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our (salary) cap, and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players,” Stevens said.
Brown and Jayson Tatum were both on supermax contracts, putting significant pressure on Boston under the NBA’s increasingly restrictive second-apron rules.
The move breaks up a partnership that had defined the Celtics for years. Brown developed from Boston’s No. 3 overall pick in 2016 into an All-NBA player and eventually helped the franchise capture the 2024 championship.
Boston isn’t exactly starting over, though. George joins a core that still features Tatum and Derrick White, while the additional draft capital gives Stevens more flexibility moving forward.
But Chisholm made it clear that approving the departure of one of the franchise’s biggest stars wasn’t something he took lightly.
In the end, the Celtics owner’s faith in Stevens and what he called the “best brains in basketball” was enough to get the blockbuster across the line.
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