Can the Celtics Move Forward Without Brown After Nine Years Together?

The Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and draft picks, ending one of the NBA’s most durable partnerships. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown spent nine years together, made the Finals twice, and won the 2024 championship. Neither missed a playoff run during their time side by side.

Brown entered the league as the third overall pick in 2016, just a year before Tatum arrived as the third overall pick of 2017. At 29 years old when the trade happened, Brown had built something rare with Tatum. But the numbers told a different story: the two would have earned $116.2 million combined in 2026-27—a salary cap crunch Boston couldn’t stomach.

Brown’s reaction was complicated. “Excited and disappointed at the same time,” he said, later adding on a Twitch stream that he felt a “lack of respect” in how things unfolded.

Tatum posted his goodbye on Instagram Friday. “Forever grateful for all that we accomplished together, for pushing me to be a better player,” he wrote. In those words lay the weight of everything they’d built in Boston—and everything they were walking away from.