After 10 years and 816 games, including 142 playoff games, Jaylen Brown’s run with the Boston Celtics has ended.
The Celtics reached an agreement Wednesday to trade Brown to the division rival Philadelphia 76ers for a package of aging nine-time All-Star Paul George, two first-round draft picks and two second-round picks.
The stunning move (“They traded Brown where?! For that?!“) cannot be finalized until the NBA’s moratorium on trades lifts on Monday. Once it is, Boston will enter a new era, with a reimagined supporting cast around remaining superstar Jayson Tatum.
Oh, and the Celtics also agreed to terms with free agents Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley, giving them a new potential starter at center and a veteran guard to shore up their bench.
More moves could be forthcoming. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens has another three months to tinker with his roster before training camp begins. For now, though, here’s an updated look at how Boston’s depth chart could shake out this season (new additions marked with asterisks):
Potential starting five
Payton Pritchard
Derrick White
Paul George*
Jayson Tatum
Mitchell Robinson*
George comes in as a 1-for-1 replacement for Brown. They’re comparable players — George is a two-way wing who once was considered one of the league’s best defenders — and the former actually outplayed the latter for much of this year’s Celtics-Sixers playoff series.
George shoots more 3-pointers and makes them more consistently (39.2% this season to Brown’s 34.7%) but rarely attacks the rim and was highly inefficient on those shots this season. If Brown’s poor advanced metrics played a role in his departure, as some have speculated, it’s worth noting that George’s team’s net rating improved with him on the court in all but one of his 16 seasons.
The biggest red flag with George, as a 36-year-old with a long injury history, is availability. He’s played more than 60 games just once in the last seven years.
The same concern applies to Robinson, whose 60 appearances for the champion Knicks this season were his most since 2021-22. The 28-year-old was the best free agent center available, however, and should provide a major boost to Boston’s frontcourt with his defensive versatility, rim protection and elite rebounding.
It’s not yet clear whether head coach Joe Mazzulla plans to start Robinson over Neemias Queta, who enjoyed breakout success last season before being derailed by foul trouble in the playoffs. But doing so would help mitigate the intentional fouling strategy Mazzulla and other coaches have used to exploit Robinson’s alarmingly poor free-throw shooting.
The biggest questions for the three holdovers here: Will Tatum, who estimated he played at 80-85% of his ability after his late-season return from Achilles surgery, look like his pre-injury, All-NBA self this fall? Can the 32-year-old White rediscover his shooting stroke after posting career-worst percentages this season? And will Pritchard, whom Mazzulla moved back to the bench after the team shipped out Anfernee Simons at the trade deadline, return to the starting lineup?
Pritchard, in particular, could take on a larger offensive role this season with Brown now in Philly. His overall efficiency dipped a bit from his Sixth Man of the Year campaign in 2024-25, but the undersized guard emerged as one of the NBA’s best isolation scorers, ranking just below Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and just above Stephen Curry, James Harden and Nikola Jokic in points per possession in iso scenarios.
In a piece for Yahoo! Sports, Tom Haberstroh likened Pritchard’s potential for a post-Brown Celtics squad to the way Jalen Brunson blossomed after he left the Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks. That’s a very high bar to clear — Brunson just won NBA Finals MVP as the best player on a dominant championship team — but Pritchard is a valuable asset as a proven scorer on one of the league’s team-friendliest contracts ($7.8 million this coming season, $8.3 million in 2027-28).
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard takes a shot over Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher during the first half of an NBA game, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Bench
Guards: Mike Conley*, Dalano Banton
The Celtics picked up Conley for the veteran minimum to shore up their guard depth. He’s a highly respected, uber-experienced point guard who rarely turns the ball over. But his numbers cratered this season (4.5 points per game on 33.5% shooting), and at 39 years old, he won’t provide the jolt of speed and athleticism that Stevens said he hoped to add this offseason. Conley was a starter for 18 straight seasons before moving into a reserve role with Minnesota last fall.
Boston picked up Banton’s team option, but his contract is non-guaranteed. He’d likely be the first to go if the Celtics need to clear a roster spot or shed salary.
Wings: Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Ron Harper Jr., Dillon Mitchell*
Too many bodies here? Perhaps. But maintaining a deep stable of wings could be wise given George’s unreliability (and the desire not to overload Tatum during his first full regular season post-injury).
Hauser, Scheierman and Walsh all started at least 20 games this season, with Hauser sticking with the top unit even after Tatum was activated in early March. The Celtics have high hopes for Gonzalez — whom they reportedly refused to include in their trade offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo — despite Mazzulla booting him from the rotation late in his rookie year. Harper showed enough potential down the stretch to earn a new three-year contract.
Mitchell, too, offers intriguing upside as an athletic freak who defends like crazy and is a threat in transition. We’ll see if the second-round draft pick can improve enough as a shooter to earn NBA minutes.
Bigs: Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, Amari Williams, Chris Cenac Jr.*
This group looks much sturdier following the addition of Robinson. Queta looked like a starting-caliber center for most of last season. Garza is limited defensively and athletically, but he can shoot (43.3% from three this season), work the offensive glass and soak up regular-season minutes to keep Robinson fresh for the playoffs.
Williams, a second-round pick last year, is back on a two-way contract. First-round rookie Cenac was a highly touted recruit who excelled as a rebounder for Houston, but Boston isn’t expecting the long, athletic 19-year-old to contribute immediately.