Just hours after Jaylen Brown was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers, people started speculating as to why he was made available this offseason.
The Celtics traded Brown to the 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the front office in Boston was "full-blown shopping" the Finals MVP despite him averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game this past season.
So why were the Celtics so eager to move on from Brown? FOX Sports host Colin Cowherd claims Brown has a "disease" where he believes he's the smartest guy in any locker room. Perhaps his personality rubbed some people in Boston the wrong way.
"I had two NBA sources … two people in the league, one an executive, one a scout, say that Jaylen Brown has — it’s a disease," Cowherd said. "He suddenly thinks he’s the smartest guy in every room he’s in … You make a lot of money, suddenly you’re absolutely sure, you don’t wanna listen to your bosses, you don’t wanna listen to consultants, you don’t wanna listen to teammates."
© Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images.
There were concerns around the league about Brown.
Before the Celtics even agreed to trade Brown to the 76ers, ESPN analyst Bobby Marks said there were teams who had "mixed feelings" about the All-Star swingman.
“There’s mixed feelings about him when you talk to teams,” Marks said. “The analytics of Jaylen Brown is not good … I had one, not an executive, but an analytics guy say, ‘Yeah, we view him as the seventh best player on a team.’ I was like, ‘Holy crap.’ What are we doing?”
Judging by the return Boston got back in Wednesday night's trade, Brown's value wasn't nearly as high as fans thought it'd be.
We'll see if Brown uses all of this negative chatter as fuel heading into the 2026-27 season.
