One of the most surprising trades in recent memory resulted in Jaylen Brown joining the Philadelphia 76ers , but the Boston Celtics couldn't get the player they really wanted.
After weeks of speculation, Jaylen Brown was finally traded by the Boston Celtics. What was a surprise was the fact that he was traded to their Eastern Conference rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics accepted what many consider a very poor package to give up an All-NBA player who was once a Finals MVP. But it appears they did demand one player in the deal, only to get turned down.
Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
According to ESPN insider Shams Charania , the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers had been in deep negotiations for quite some time.
The Celtics had initially set quite a steep price for Jaylen Brown, given the caliber of player he is. But as time went on, the Celtics started to lose leverage in negotiations.
While negotiating with the 76ers, the Celtics asked for their standout rookie, VJ Edgecombe, to be included in the package for Jaylen Brown.
Understandably, the 76ers refused to give up Edgecombe, as he is now part of the 76ers' core that they are looking to build around.
In the end, the Celtics had to settle for Paul George , one of the worst contracts in the NBA, as a salary makeweight, along with two first and second round picks.
There's no denying that the Boston Celtics came out on the losing end of this deal. Even though they didn't want to keep Jaylen Brown going forward, they should have gotten more out of the deal.
But after losing the opportunity to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo , they knew Brown's value in the trade market was bound to reduce.
As such, the Philadelphia 76ers were able to take advantage of the Celtics negotiating from a position of weakness and got the most out of this deal.
Even though Paul George is a good player, at his age and with his injury issues, the Celtics cannot rely on him to be a regular playoff performer.
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