Sixers Trade For Celtics Star Jaylen Brown, Reportedly Want Lebron James

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Sixers pulled off a shocking and overwhelming win of a trade Wednesday night, landing five-time All Star Jaylen Brown from their archrivals, the Boston Celtics, in exchange for Paul George and several draft picks, ESPN's Shams Charania first reported.

Reports also emerged Wednesday that the Sixers are interested in signing Lebron James, according to The Athletic's Tony Jones. That remains true even after adding Brown. James, however, has given little indication thus far about where he intends to play his age 41 to 42 season.

Brown, just 29, is seven years younger than George and coming off a season where he was Boston's primary scorer for nearly the entire season. He finished sixth in MVP voting.

George, 36, ends a brief Philly tenure after the latest failure of the organization to find a complementary star to Joel Embiid through free agency. It's a role that was briefly, and to varying degrees of greater success, filled by James Harden and Jimmy Butler.

While the Sixers are also shipping 2028 and 2031 first round picks and a 2028 second round pick to Boston, the trade is widely considered a huge, and bizarre, victory for Philadelphia. Brown is a marquee player in his prime. George is a former star nearing the end of his career and coming off a rough 2025-26 season. The trade makes the Sixers immediately, and notably better, and the Celtics immediately and notably worse.

More than that, a player like Brown theoretically fits the Sixers like a puzzle piece. Philly has a big man in Embiid and a pair of guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. Brown, a 6 foot, 6 inch small forward, fits between the gap on the court perfectly.

Brown's relationship with Boston has been souring for years. The Celtics have tried to trade him numerous times, including a failed attempt to package him for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo just a few weeks ago. Some believe that Boston, typically shrewd and successful in their wheeling and dealing over the past decade, also does not believe Brown is as good as his surface level numbers would indicate.

Skeptics will further question Brown's ability to fit in on a Philadelphia team where he is the third best player, not the star. That "problem" would of course compound if the Sixers ever managed to land Lebron. But having to figure out the dynamics of three, four, or even five superstars (should Edgecombe continue to develop) on the court at once is a good problem to have.

It's the first major deal for Mike Gansey, the Sixers new president of basketball operations who took over after Daryl Morey was fired this spring. Its bound to be historic no matter the final result, as the archrival Sixers and Celtics have never in their history exchanged such significant on-court pieces.

Barring any catastrophic injuries, the trade positions the Sixers as favorites to challenge the defending champion New York Knicks to win the eastern conference in 2027.