Jaylen Brown’s contract hurt trade value

Jul 4, 2026 11:49 AM

Jaylen Brown’s trade value became one of the biggest talking points around the NBA after the Boston Celtics sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two unprotected first-round picks and two second-round picks.

According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Brown’s massive contract played a major role in limiting the market for the four-time All-Star.

“I had a primary decision maker with another team in the league say if you make $60 million, this is what you’re worth in a trade,” MacMahon said. “If he made $40 million, every single team in the league would have been lining up for Jaylen, even with all the other issues.”

MacMahon explained that Boston initially sought a return matching Brown’s All-NBA production but found that rival front offices valued him much differently.

“They went out swinging for sky high value,” MacMahon said. “They went out trying to trade Jaylen Brown at the value of the sixth most valuable player in the league… When the league does not perceive him to be the sixth most valuable player in the league.”

He added that Brown’s contract, combined with the NBA’s restrictive salary cap rules, made it difficult for teams to justify paying that price.

“It gets into the CBA and the cap rules and the apron. It’s really hard to tie up that much money in your salary cap for one player that’s truly generational and he’s not even close to that.”

ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill said the trade also reflected the NBA’s changing roster-building landscape, where trades have largely replaced free agency.

“The reason you see more trades and not free agency nowadays is because the trade market is free agency,” Goodwill said.

Goodwill added that while Brown was coming off an outstanding season, league executives still viewed him differently than the public did.

“There is a schism between the year he had and the player that he is,” Goodwill said. “The Celtics were trying to get top-6 return for a top-25 player, which is what you’re supposed to do. But it just dragged on long and left a bad taste in people’s mouths.”