It’s been over a month since Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens gave his press conference following the Jaylen Brown trade.
Stevens was open and honest about the franchise’s motivations for trading its longest-tenured player and former NBA Finals MVP, who was coming off the best season of his career. The league’s salary cap apron restrictions simply make it too difficult to tie up as much money in two players as Boston would have with Brown and Jayson Tatum in the coming seasons.
The Celtics’ man in charge reiterated a similar message during his candid appearance on the team’s most recent Beneath the Banners episode -- a behind-the-scenes look at the organization.
“It’s something that you have to just say, do you think where we currently are, and doing what we’ve done, will get us to where we ultimately want to go?” Stevens questioned. “If not, does it make sense to explore other pathways, even if that could be very tough in the near term?”
Trading Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers for a 36-year-old Paul George, a complicated 2028 first-round pick swap, Philly’s 2031 first-rounder, and two seconds didn’t make sense in the immediate. Even if the move was financially driven, there is no immediate relief for the Cs, who will pay George up to $113 million over the next two seasons, should he opt into his player option next summer.
It's clear that Stevens didn't think the Celtics were good enough to stay the same
Stevens’ insight in Sunday’s YouTube video hit similar angles to the ones he hit in his end-of-season media availability back in May. During that presser, Brad brought up Boston’s poor record (3-11) against the other top seeds in both conferences, as well as previous playoff disappointments; failing to capitalize on a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, falling to the eighth seeded Miami Heat in 2023 after trailing 3-0, blowing two-straight second-half leads at home to fall behind the New York Knicks in 2025.
Those disappointments, of course, culminated in a 3-1 series collapse to the 76ers, marking the Celtics’ first playoff loss to Philly since 1982.
It’s very clear that the front office felt that something had to change here. To them, there have been too many missed opportunities to want to continue with both Brown and Tatum at the helm.
The opening monologue from Stevens at both his July press conference and in the YouTube short would suggest that he thinks the team is better off using the supermax chunk of salary owed to Brown to round out their depth.
“With the game changing, you need more players who can play at a high level. You need a bench that’s deep. Those two things don’t necessarily go together… You have to really be good around the role players. The guys that you think that can continue to develop and grow. Guys that are willing to play a role that might be older and more accomplished. Then you just build the best team that you can.”
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