Celtics Trolled by Fans After Jaylen Brown Trade, Disappointing Return amid NBA Title Hunt

When the Boston Celtics went into the offseason, they were hoping to trade Jaylen Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Instead, they traded the former Finals MVP for 36-year-old Paul George.

While Boston also got a pair of first-rounders and second-rounders in return for Brown, it's fair to say the offer was a bit underwhelming. At least, that's the consensus among fans.

Brown is coming off the best individual season of his career, in which he averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He was a borderline MVP candidate in 2025-26 and seemingly had high trade value this offseason.

But the Celtics reportedly were "very motivated" to trade Brown, which perhaps meant taking a lower offer than they would have liked.

While George was once an MVP candidate himself, it's been a while since he was in that form. Last season, he put up 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

George has a $54.12 million cap hit in 2026-27 and has a player option worth $56.58 million next year. That's not much less than Brown's deal, which will pay him $57 million this season.

The Celtics have a solid front office, so there might be more to their master plan than meets the eye, but on the surface, the trade seems like a big win for the 76ers.