Celtics Governor 'Needed to Be Convinced' About Jaylen Brown, Paul George Trade by Brad Stevens

Boston Celtics governor Bill Chisholm said he had to be "convinced" by the front office about the Jaylen Brown trade before the team ultimately dealt the five-time All-Star to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round draft picks and a pair of second-rounders.

Chisholm made the remarks during a chat on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI Radio.

"I truly believe we have the best front office in the NBA, and I think it's a source of advantage for us every day. So I definitely have a level of trust in Brad and his team," Chisholm said (h/t Robby Kalland of CBS Sports). "But man, as a fan, that was tough. I really needed to be convinced to take the fan passion out of it, because I'm a super fan, was tough. I think you have to be a sociopath if you don't worry a little bit about what other fans are going to think. And so, to put all that to the side and just do the job -- step back and realize you have a responsibility to protect and advance the legacy of the Celtics. We've got the best brains in basketball, and this was something they had conviction around. 

"I needed to be convinced, and that's my job, but they did convince me, and we did it, and we did it with conviction. And we'll see where it goes, but we feel good about it. All that stuff is tough. It's really tough. On a personal level, I really like Jaylen as a person, the role he played in the community and, obviously, the role he played on the court will be sorely missed."

President of basketball operations Brad Stevens explained to reporters why the move was made. In essence, he said there were concerns about having 70 percent of the team's salary cap tied up in two players (Brown and Jayson Tatum) and that it was imperative for the team to build out more depth in today's NBA landscape.

Stevens said in part:

"The reality in this day and age at the NBA, and you could see it obviously with the last couple of champions ... you have to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. And that's not an easy thing to do. And that's absolutely nothing against Jaylen. If you have Jaylen Brown on your team, you should feature him, you should use all those possessions and you should approach things that way. But I think the importance of depth and then obviously, we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall."

Brown has enjoyed great success with the Celtics, who never had a losing season with him on the roster. Boston made Eastern Conference Finals six times in his 10-year tenure, including two series victories and a 2024 NBA championship.

Last year, Brown averaged a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He led the Celtics to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

It was an impressive showing considering Tatum, who has made the All-NBA First Team each of the past four seasons, only played 16 games after suffering a torn Achilles in May 2025 during a playoff game against the New York Knicks.

The Celtics are moving on, however, as they look toward the future and hope this trade will land them more long-term success.