Before I start, let me make one thing clear:

I don't like this trade.

I'm a lifelong Celtics fan, and as of July 6, 2026, I still think Jalen Brown is a better player than Paul George.

This post isn't about saying Boston won the trade. It's about explaining why I think Brad Stevens made it.

The biggest thing Celtics fans are missing is how NBA front offices value Jalen Brown versus how fans value him.

A lot of fans think Brown is a top-10 player. I've always had him around 11-13, which is still elite. More importantly, I don't think the rest of the league values him as a true top-10 player either.

If the reports are true that Boston offered Brown plus two first-round picks for Giannis, and Milwaukee still said no, that tells you something. Would they have turned down Anthony Edwards or a healthy Jayson Tatum plus two firsts? I don't think so.

After that, reports said Brad Stevens called around the league about Brown. From everything we've heard, the Paul George package was one of the best offers available.

That shouldn't surprise people.

Brown is an incredible player, but front offices also see the flaws. He's isolation-heavy, has turnover issues, isn't an elite playmaker, and his advanced metrics have never matched his reputation.

The other thing people are ignoring is the new CBA.

Look at Denver. In hindsight, they were probably better off moving Jamal Murray after they failed to repeat instead of waiting until his value dropped. Look at Milwaukee. Instead of resetting around Giannis, they doubled down on an aging core and eventually found themselves stuck.

The new CBA makes it much harder to keep expensive championship cores together. Brad Stevens may have looked at Boston and thought, "We're not guaranteed to win the East anyway, so why commit another six to eight years of max money to Brown?"

Whether you agree or not, that's a rational way to think.

And while Paul George isn't the better player, he might actually be the better fit.

He spaces the floor, moves well without the ball, is a better passer, and has historically been one of the league's better team defenders. Next to Tatum, those skills fit naturally.

I also think people are writing off Paul George too quickly. Philadelphia was a poor situation, he was the third option, and now he'll have the opportunity to play in a stable organization with something to prove.

Boston still has Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Mitchell Robinson, elite role players, great coaching, and one of the best front offices in basketball.

I still think they're a top-four team in the East.

Again, I don't like the trade.

But I don't think Brad Stevens made it because he suddenly believed Paul George was better than Jalen Brown.

I think he made it because of roster construction, contract flexibility under the new CBA, and because he didn't believe Brown's trade value around the league was as high as Celtics fans believed it was.

You can disagree with the move, but I don't think it's fair to say there wasn't a logical basketball reason behind it.