The Philadelphia 76ers just pulled off a trade that might actually matter. Not the kind of deal that gets you excited for a week before the flaws show up. This one involves Jaylen Brown, the reigning Finals MVP, coming to town for Paul George, two first-round picks, and a pair of second-rounders. And if you ask Kendrick Perkins, the Celtics basically gift-wrapped a trip to the NBA Finals.
Perkins didn’t hold back. He played for Boston once, so this one stung him personally.
“First of all, this is a sad day for the Boston Celtics,” Perkins said on Wednesday. “And as a former Celtic, I do not approve of this trade. If you’re going to trade a guy that’s a top-10 player, you at least got to get back a guy that’s a top-15, top-20 player. And Paul George is not that. Paul George hasn’t been consistently good since I was skinny. And that’s been a long damn time.”
He kept going, because Perkins always does when he’s hot.
“When you talk about Jaylen Brown, your former finals MVP, conference finals MVP, NBA champion for coming off his best season of his career, statistically leading his team past, you know, defeating all the odds, they were supposed to be in tanking mode. This team finished second in the East. And I know things didn’t work out like it was supposed to, as far as the way that the playoff run ended.”
Brown turned 28 last October. He averaged 26.3 points and 6.1 rebounds last season while shooting 38% from three. That’s not the kind of player you usually trade for a 35-year-old whose best days were in Indiana. But Brad Stevens apparently saw something different. Or maybe he felt squeezed after losing the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes to Miami earlier this week.
“But at the end of the day, if you’re Brad Stevens, to me, he had already lost when he lost the Giannis sweepstakes to the Miami Heat,” Perkins said. “If you’re going to jump off the porch and you’re going to make Jaylen Brown available, you got to make sure you pencil in that deal. This is nothing but sloppy seconds, in my opinion. And the way I see it, he just basically handed the Philadelphia 76ers a trip to the NBA Finals next year.”
What does this actually mean for Philly?
The 76ers haven’t been to the NBA Finals since 2001, when Allen Iverson was the guy stepping over Tyronn Lue. Joel Embiid has carried this franchise to multiple Eastern Conference Semifinals appearances, but never past the second round. Pairing him with Tyrese Maxey and now Jaylen Brown — that’s a legitimate Big Three. Or at least a Big Two plus a really good third option.
Brown gives them a perimeter scorer who can create his own shot, defend multiple positions, and has already proven he can win on the biggest stage. Maxey is fast and fearless. Embiid is still the most unstoppable force in the league when healthy. That’s a problem for everyone else in the East.
Boston, meanwhile, gets Paul George, who is still talented but has missed 98 games over the last four seasons. The draft picks help the future, but the present got worse. And the Celtics have to live with the fact that they just sent a 27-year-old Finals MVP to a division rival.
Perkins summed it up simply: “He just basically handed the Philadelphia 76ers a trip to the NBA Finals next year.” We’ll find out in June if he was right.
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