Celtics’ Brad Stevens on Jaylen Brown trade: ‘It was inevitable’

Brad Stevens didn’t trade Jaylen Brown because Brown failed in Boston.

He traded him because keeping the Celtics built around two maximum-salary, high-usage stars had become increasingly difficult.

Stevens addressed the decision during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, explaining that Boston wanted greater depth and a roster capable of remaining competitive over an extended period.

“At the end of the day, the biggest thing is that when evaluating how the team played in the past couple of playoffs, we have to build the depth to stay as competitive as we can and build for a long, sustainable run,” Stevens said. “It was inevitable.”

Brown spent 10 seasons with the Celtics, reached five Eastern Conference finals and made two trips to the NBA Finals. He won Finals MVP when Boston captured the 2024 championship.

That history made the decision considerably more complicated.

“For us, it was a really hard decision,” Stevens said. “There were a lot of things that went into it. You have two max players, two max usage. Those are the things you have to make a decision on.”

The Celtics sent Brown to the 76ers in July for Paul George and draft assets, creating a division rival featuring Brown, LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Stevens previously said the trade gave Boston greater financial flexibility and prevented nearly 70 percent of its salary cap from being committed to Brown and Jayson Tatum, as the New York Post noted⁠.

“Jaylen’s a great player,” Stevens said. “But I like the team we have.”

Trading Brown was hard. Trying to construct a sustainable contender around two enormous contracts was apparently harder.