Celtics believe they already have Jaylen Brown's replacement

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Celtics believe they already have Jaylen Brown's replacement

By Ernesto Cova | Last updated Jul 2, 2026 5:05 PM ET

In a somewhat shocking turn of events, the Boston Celtics decided to trade Jaylen Brown.

The trade itself wasn't as surprising as both the destination and the return, and not many people thought they would ever send him to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Then again, as unimpressed as Celtics fans might be right now, general manager Brad Stevens believes they already have another star in the building.

According to NBA insider Tom Haberstroh, the Celtics are extremely high on Payton Pritchard, and they think he can be their own version of Jalen Brunson.

Celtics hope Payton Pritchard takes a big leap

“The Celtics trading [Jaylen] Brown is a bet that [Payton] Pritchard is their in-house version of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, a diminutive player who didn’t fully show his talents until Luka Dončić was out of the picture,” Haberstroh said.

The Kevin O'Connor Show is LIVE @KevinOConnor & @tomhaberstroh discuss all of the ramifications of Jaylen Brown being sent to his arch-rival in the Philadelphia 76ers

What could be next for the top free agent left on the market, LeBron James https://t.co/MlYQ32WwDR
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 2, 2026

Pritchard has shown significant improvement in recent years, even winning Sixth Man of the Year honors in 2025.

He's a sharpshooting specialist who can get hot in the blink of an eye, and he's got great handles and a high basketball IQ.

However, from that to banking most of their hope on him taking a Jalen Brunson-type jump might be a bit too much to ask.

He's coming off averaging 17.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.7 three-pointers per game on 46/37/89 shooting splits, per Basketball Reference.

The Celtics missed an opportunity (for one reason) to get Giannis Antetokounmpo and lost their Finals MVP, all in the same week.

If Pritchard can live up to the expectations and prove they made the right call, it might all be worth it. That, however, is a big "if," and it might take a while for him to make the fans change their minds about these moves.

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto is a bilingual (English-Spanish) sports writer with over eight years of experience covering major leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Ernesto’s work focuses on providing insightful, up-to-date coverage of sports, blending his expertise in sports psychology with a passion for analyzing player performance, team dynamics, and trade developments across various sports leagues

More must-reads: