The Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks. That’s an offer even the Chicago Bulls could have competed with. Brown could be a Bull right now if the Bulls really wanted him to be.
At this point in his career, George is on a negative-value contract. He makes over $50 million. That’s way too much for the production he brings to the court. Yet the Celtics still landed on that as the return package for one of the best players in the league. That speaks volumes.
Chicago could have put together a package that would have been better for Boston than that.
Bulls could have traded for Jaylen Brown
Brown is fresh off an All-NBA Second Team campaign. He finished sixth in MVP voting. He led the Jayson Tatum-less Celtics to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. A 56-win season.
Yet Boston flopped in the playoffs. The Celtics blew a 3-1 lead to the Sixers, a team they hadn’t lost to in the postseason since 1982. It was as bad as bad could be for the Celtics.
So, when the offseason came around, they got involved in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sweepstakes. Brown was reportedly offered, but when the Milwaukee Bucks decided to send him to the Miami Heat, the Celtics were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
They evidently decided that Brown had to be traded, and based on the package they eventually accepted, it seems as though no team around the league valued him.
But the Bulls could have taken the risk. If the Celtics ended up taking on George’s contract because it was truly the best offer on the table, then Chicago could have gotten involved.
Josh Giddey, Isaac Okoro, and Jalen Smith would have gotten the Bulls there financially. And then after that, they could have thrown in a couple of first-round picks.
None of those contracts are as bad as George’s. And though the picks aren’t quite as good as the 2028 first Boston got back in the George deal, they also wouldn’t have had to take on the George contract.
That seems like it could have been a better offer, but if the Celtics went with the Philly one, it means the Bulls probably weren’t involved.
And fair enough. They can move forward with their young core and draft picks in hand. But if the Celtics traded Brown for George, it feels like the Bulls could have definitely made something happen.
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