Brad Stevens said Monday that the Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to keep the team competitive, add more optionality with draft assets, and because the path moving forward had become "more challenging."
Stevens, the Celtics' president of basketball operations, and team owner Bill Chisholm met with the media in Boston to explain the difficult decision to trade Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks (2028 and 2031) and two second-round picks (2028 and 2030).
"When I looked at our team and where the league was heading, looked at the way that we've finished the last couple years and at the unbelievable way we've played in the regular season in the last couple years, the path looked a little bit more challenging to me," Stevens said. "I might be wrong. I'm not going to stand up here and be defensive about that, but the path looked a little bit more challenging, with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players [Brown and Jayson Tatum].
"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."
Trading Brown has been difficult for the fanbase to accept. The Celtics drafted Brown, 29, third in 2016. The 6-foot-6 forward is a Finals MVP who helped Boston win a title in 2024. The five-time All-Star is coming off one of his best seasons after averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists to finish sixth in MVP voting as he helped the Celtics to 56 wins and the second-best record in the Eastern Conference while Tatum was recovering from a torn right Achilles.
Brown had been in limbo for weeks after the Celtics attempted to trade him for Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Milwaukee Bucks dealt to the Miami Heat.
Boston then dealt Brown to division rival Philadelphia, which beat the Celtics 4-3 in the first round, for the draft assets and George.
"We like Paul," Stevens said. "Paul's a really good player. We're not very far removed from our series against Philadelphia and watching Paul be a guy that could carry you for portions of a quarter or a half, but also play a complementary role on both ends of the floor at the highest of levels.
"From the draft assets, I get it. Listen, I'm a fan first and foremost. When I was a kid, I could care less about what picks came back, especially second-round picks. I get it. But the draft assets in this whole deal, the way we looked at it was there are two potential premium assets. And so, the quality of the assets ... both offer potential, who knows, big swings at the apple."
George, 36, has two years remaining on his contract, one fewer than Brown. Chisholm said trading Brown was not a salary cap decision.
"No, absolutely not," Chisholm said of whether it was a financial decision. "This was all about basically trying to win. Really trusting in our process. I think we have the best front office in the NBA, and they put in their work and they came to the conclusion this was the best way for us to win. We'll spend whatever it takes to do that. The mandate is to win, and Brad and his team came with a recommendation. This is the way we're going to win. And I looked at it, and I had the same reaction.
"We came to the conclusion. They convinced me this was the best way for us to win, and I got there, I did, but it was hard. It was really hard. And I recognize this is a big, big move."
Stevens said neither the Celtics nor Brown was disgruntled with each other. Stevens also said he understands that he broke up a championship tandem in Tatum and Brown. Each averaged 20-plus points in the same season six times, second most by a duo in NBA history behind Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, according to ESPN Research.
"I think Jayson and Jaylen have had a remarkable partnership where they complemented each other great and have played with other great teammates," Stevens said. "And it'll just be on Jayson to continue to grow individually and accentuate the people that are around him now. But what they did together was awfully impressive."
Stevens acknowledged that he has had sleepless nights about the decision to trade Brown and while dealing with the emotions of the fanbase.
"Listen, I lost sleep over the fan part of this," Stevens said. "I get it. There's a bunch of [No. 7] jerseys around. I'm pretty sure I bought a couple, I get it. And somebody asked me earlier today, 'Do you miss coaching?' I did this week. This is not for the faint of heart."
Stevens was asked whether this trade makes the Celtics better this coming season. He replied, "We'll find out."
The Celtics also agreed to a three-year, $47 million deal to add center Mitchell Robinson in free agency, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania. In addition, Boston will add Mike Conley on a one-year deal and re-signed center Neemias Queta to a four-year contract extension worth $56 million, Charania reported.
"Ultimately, there's a lot of small steps that it'll take to build out the depth and the team that we ultimately want to [be]," Stevens said. "We're not up here to defend ourselves in this decision that is going to certainly be scrutinized. We're OK with that, but we're more so dealing with the emotions of Jaylen not being here just like you are."
Chisholm said the Celtics will spend to win.
"It's not about the money at all," he said. "This was, again, trying to put together the right set of players and assets to win now, to win next year, the following year, the year after that. That's what this was about. None of these were about money. We have some more room now. If we see something we wanted, Brad's got the green light to do that.
"I know people feel like, oh, there must be a smoking gun somewhere around the money. That's just not what this is about. And I can say it and I'll keep saying it, but I'll also prove it to you. When we have the opportunity, we're going to do that and we've given ourselves the flexibility to do it now. So, it's fine to keep asking the question because I know we have to prove it, and we will."