Celtics botch Jaylen Brown trade with catastrophic 76ers deal

Last season, Brown, 29, led the Celtics to a stunning 56-26 record as teammate Jaylen Tatum missed the majority of the campaign with a torn Achilles. The five-time All-Star averaged career-highs in points (28.7), assists (5.1) and tied for a career-high in rebounds (6.9) while finishing sixth in MVP voting.

George, meanwhile, has averaged 16.7 points per game over the past two seasons while appearing in 78 games combined and recently turned 36 in May.

The deal, even with draft capital attached, is a no-brainer for the Sixers, who add Brown to a strong core that includes young pros Tyrese Maxey, 25, VJ Edgecombe, 20, and 2023-23 MVP center Joel Embiid. As strong as Philly looks on paper, that makes the deal even more perplexing from Boston's perspective.

In the playoffs, the Sixers came back from a 3-1 first-round series deficit to defeat the Celtics in seven games, and the Brown-George swap could widen the gap between the two franchises.

It's hard to imagine Boston playing its hand more poorly. Coming off a career-best season, the Celtics should have been able to get considerably more for Brown, but their aggressive, failed pursuit of Antetokounmpo forced the panic transaction. Rival teams sensed the front office's desperation to make a move, depressing Brown's value to the point that the 76ers could get him in exchange for an over-the-hill George.

Makes matters worse for Boston is that Philly should be getting Brown at his most motivated. Last month, after the Bucks trade didn't materialize, Brown went on a Twitch stream and told Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles, "To all the people who have doubted me ... or want me gone, you're turning me into a monster" (h/t Bleacher Report).

Boston's decision to pull the plug on a championship-winning core deserves all the scrutiny it's receiving. As much as president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has done right over the years, even he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. There's perhaps no better way to describe the resolution to Brown's trade saga than as catastrophic. But as awful as it looks in the present, it could be even more disastrous for the Celtics further down the road.