The Jaylen Brown era in Boston ended on Wednesday night with a trade that left plenty of fans scratching their heads. Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks is what the Celtics got back for a 29-year-old wing who just averaged 29 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while dragging a banged-up roster to 56 wins. That return says a lot about how the league views Brown. But what the Celtics really thought about him internally might sting more.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Boston’s brass believed Derrick White had a better season than Brown. Not just a more efficient one. A better season, period. Windhorst dropped that on the Hoop Collective show after the trade went down.
“Even though Jaylen Brown was talking about himself for MVP, the Celtics did not feel like Jaylen had the best season on their team,” Windhorst said. “They felt that Derrick White had a better season.”
The numbers tell a different story on the surface
White averaged 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists this past season. His shooting percentages dipped to 39.4 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three. Those are fine numbers for a role player. They’re not MVP-caliber by any stretch. Brown finished sixth in actual MVP voting and posted career highs across the board while carrying a 36.2 percent usage rate. His true shooting percentage of 57.3 actually beat his own career average despite the massive workload.
But Boston’s front office is deep into the analytics side of things. White has always been an advanced stats darling. The Celtics clearly think the gap between Brown’s reputation and his actual impact is real, and the rest of the league apparently agreed when trade talks started.
What this means for Boston going forward
George is 36 years old. He’s still a two-way threat when healthy, but the Celtics are swapping out a guy entering his prime for a veteran on the back nine. Boston should still be competitive in the East next season. Losing that much offensive punch is hard to spin as a positive, though. The team has not confirmed Windhorst’s report, but the trade return itself feels like pretty strong supporting evidence.
Brown can hang his hat on the stats and the individual accolades. He’ll have a chance to prove his value somewhere else now. The Celtics made their choice, and it wasn’t the one most fans expected.
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