Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum's 'Personal' Fit Reportedly Led to Celtics' Decision on 76ers Trade

After the Boston Celtics traded star guard Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, more details have emerged about the end of his tenure with the team.

During Thursday's episode of Get Up, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Celtics questioned whether Brown and star forward Jayson Tatum could continue to fit together going forward.

"The biggest thing that I look at is this, it's very simple, even talking to people in Boston, winning cures everything. The last two years, they simply did not get far enough to justify having two supermax contract players moving forward that they already had questions about the fit on a personal level and also eventually on the court, where they just did not have the levels of success that they wanted to have," Charania reported. "For whatever reason, that's what they had determined. And so, they weren't going to trade Jayson Tatum, I'll tell you that. And so, they landed on Jaylen Brown. They've offered Jaylen Brown multiple times before, and finally he was moved. The Js are split."

Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports reported that Brown's future with the Celtics "always seemed murky" after they included him in trade discussions for star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. League sources told Iko that Brown's "frustration with the Celtics had reached a point of no return, ultimately forcing their hand" ahead of Wednesday's trade.

"They had no intention of bringing him back," one league executive told Iko.

Brown and Tatum were drafted one year apart, giving the Celtics a promising young duo to build around. Boston's plan finally paid off when the team won the 2024 NBA championship, but its success was short-lived.

The Celtics were unceremoniously bounced out of the 2025 playoffs in the second round, and to make matters worse, they lost Tatum to a torn Achilles tendon. Brown put forth an impressive 2025-26 campaign as he carried Boston to the No. 2 seed in the East, but the team lost to the Sixers in the first round despite Tatum's return from his injury.

Throughout their partnership, Tatum was frequently viewed as the Celtics' primary option over Brown, and it was no secret that Brown had a different mindset. The 29-year-old proved that he can be a leading star during Tatum's absence, and he will have the chance to further solidify that point after being traded to Philadelphia. Boston acquired veteran forward Paul George, two first-round picks (2028, 2031) and two second-round selections (2028, 2030) to complete the deal.

Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix also reported that the Celtics' motivation to trade Brown partly stemmed from concerns about his relationship with Tatum.

"Was it more personally motivated? Brown's frequent Twitch streams caused some headaches in Boston's front office and his claim that last season was his favorite—besting, you know, the 2024 run that ended in a championship—didn't go over well with the fan base," Mannix explained. "Behind the scenes there was plenty of grumbling about Brown's desire to be viewed as a basketball equal to Jayson Tatum."

After being traded to a division rival, Brown will have several opportunities to prove that the Celtics made the wrong decision to send him to the Sixers.