NBA Insiders Suggest 76ers Got Jaylen Brown for 'Free' in Paul George Trade with Celtics

The backlash toward the Boston Celtics for their return in the Jaylen Brown trade is not exclusive to fans and analysts.

Per ESPN's Brian Windhorst, some people within the NBA have argued the Philadelphia 76ers are getting Brown for "free" in their deal with Boston.

Philadelphia was able to land Brown in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.

Even the draft pick compensation is a bit deceiving because the 2028 first-rounder is so convoluted through various protections that it would require many things to go wrong for other teams to turn into anything of significant value.

Essentially, the Celtics traded away Brown coming off a sixth-place finish in MVP voting last season for more immediate financial flexibility since George has one fewer year remaining on his contract, an unprotected pick in 2031 and the hope that things go in their favor for the 2028 pick.

It was less than two weeks ago that Boston was trying to make Brown the centerpiece of a trade package to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Instead, after that didn't pan out, the Celtics swapped out Brown for a player in George who is 36 and has played fewer than 60 games in six of the last seven seasons.

If the Celtics looked like a team entering a rebuild phase, it would help explain why they took on George's contract with the hope of landing two quality first-round draft picks in the future.

But this is a Boston team that presumably still expects to be a contender in the East with Jayson Tatum set to be healthy at the start of the season, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and the newly-signed Mitchell Robinson.

Maybe there's a scenario in which George, who might be a better fit for head coach Joe Mazzulla's style that favors three-point shooting than Brown, helps the Celtics get over the hump in 2026-27 after a disappointing first-round exit last season.

Even accounting for that possibility, though, it's hard to see how the Celtics got anything close to fair value for Brown coming off his best season in a career that has included five All-Star selections and two All-NBA second-team selections.