New Jaylen Brown Rumors Reveal Snubbed Mystery Team Lowballed Offer to Celtics Before 76ers Trade

One mystery suitor for Jaylen Brown was reportedly "stunned" the Boston Celtics traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers without giving them the opportunity to improve on their lackluster offer.

"I talked to one team that absolutely made an offer to Boston for Jaylen Brown," Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix reported during an appearance on The Ryen Russillo Show (17:55). "A good team. They made an offer to Boston. And I talked to a person in that front office after the deal with Philadelphia was consummated, and they were stunned. Mostly because they knew their offer wasn't very good, but they told me, this person told me, that the offer would have gotten better.

"… They were probing to see how low can they go. Look, nobody's going to come at you with their best offer right away, especially when the perception is that you're trying to make a deal and you're desperate to get out of there."

Boston eventually traded him to the 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks. NBA insider Jake Fischer reported the 2028 first-round pick could become a swap that is more favorable to the Celtics.

Considering those picks could be later in the draft if the 76ers live up to expectations with a core of Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, it didn't seem like a significant trade package for a 29-year-old coming off a career-best season.

Brown was an All-NBA Second Team selection and finished sixth in MVP voting while tallying career-high averages of points (28.7), rebounds (6.9) and assists (5.1) per game last season as Boston's primary option when Jayson Tatum was recovering from an Achilles injury.

That the Celtics moved him to an Eastern Conference rival that just eliminated them from the playoffs was also somewhat surprising and may have caught this mystery suitor with a worse offer off guard as well.

There has been plenty of drama surrounding the trade with ESPN's Brian Windhorst reporting beforehand Boston was "very motivated" to move Brown and "offering him everywhere" and the star player liking an Instagram comment calling for the Celtics to trade him to "a city who respects him."

Brown also criticized the Celtics on Twitch after the trade and released a statement that said he was "still processing how this all went down" after he "earned my respect from this city."

Ultimately, Boston's loss is Philadelphia's gain, and he will look to help lead a deep playoff run alongside Embiid and Maxey.

But it seems like the Celtics could have received at least one other improved offer had they reached back out to this suitor before moving him to Philadelphia.