🚨 Jaylen Brown releases statement on trade to the 76ers 🚨 | NBA Today

Jalen Brown's time in Boston officially over.The number three pick in the 2016 draft headed to Philly.During his 10 -year career, the Celtics made the finals twice, winning in 2024, where he was named finals MVP, coming off his best regular season with career highs in points, rebounds, and assists.And he has just put out a statement.It's quite lengthy, so I'm just going to read it in part.And I quote, special treatment.

I simply showed up every day, put my head down, and accepted every challenge.I'm big on respect, and actions speak louder than words.To the people of Boston, thank you.To the community I built here, I love you.As one chapter closes, another begins.Philly, throw up the ball.

Let's get it.Senior NBA insider Shams Sharania is with us.Shams, we've just read the statement from Jalen Brown that he has just released.What more context can you offer?

Hannah, I'm told that Jalen Brown has been disappointed and disrespected over the way the Celtics have handled this whole trade situation, particularly because he never formally requested a trade.But now he has to move on, and that preparation for the Sixers and the next phase of his career has begun.I'm told he has already spoken to the team's cornerstone guards, Tyrese Maxey and B .J.Edgecombe.They had great early conversations here in the first 24 hours of this trade.

But once the Celtics missed out on Giannis Antetokounmpo, for the fourth straight year, Jalen Brown dangled in trade conversations My understanding was Jalen Brown felt disrespected and really the only way to recoup that relationship at that point was to give Jalen Brown that two -year $145 ,000.in July.But all the indications now are that the Celtics were not going to offer that.So then it became about seeing what can you get on the trade market.The Celtics set a very high bar.They asked teams for four, five first -round picks.

But that price just was not met in the marketplace.And as time went on, as they aggressively shopped them, among 8 to 10 different teams, the valuation plummeted for Jalen Brown across the NBA.And when I talk to teams today, they've wondered, why didn't the Celtics prolong this later into July, later into the offseason?What made them pull the trigger now?And my understanding in Boston, as well, is they felt this was the best it was going to get for Jalen Brown.

Just to clarify one point, I just want to make sure that the disrespect stemmed solely from him being put up in the honest trade?

In trades in general, right?In cumulative effect of what's occurred over the last four years.Go back to 2022.Jalen Brown was offered for Kevin Durant.And then even last summer, the Celtics listened, took calls on Jalen Brown.They were open to moving him.

The necessary offers obviously weren't put into form.So they decided to keep them.They moved Christophe Forzingas and Drew Holliday instead.But then this summer is when the Celtics became serious about moving Jalen Brown.They made the assessment internally.They were not going to move forward with both Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown as the Supermax duo to lead this team to a championship.

They didn't believe in that duo anymore as a title fit.And listen, Hannah, The Celtics did get calls on Jason Tatum the last two weeks.Those calls were completely shut down.For Jalen Brown, they were wide open for business.

Very interesting.Also, by the way, you broke some news before the show about Philly.They weren't done after that.So can you give us the details there?

Hanna, the 76ers added some more firepower today.They've reached agreement with guard Anfernee Simons on a two -year, $12 .3 million deal.And you think about what Simons is going to give this team offensively.They are, last season, a bottom three offensive bench unit.And Simons ranked among the top six in three -pointers made coming off the bench last season.Think about Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brown.

We know how much they love to drive.Well, now you have that knockdown shooter And I'm told the Sixers are also trying to make a pitch to LeBron James along with the Warriors, the Cavaliers, and the Heat.So include the Sixers and maybe one or two other teams.in due time in that mix.But the Sixers get Anthony Simons and they're obviously trying to continue to add to this team.

And LeBron James has said he wants to play meaningful basketball.That's something that the Sixers did not do in the playoffs.But we could certainly argue today that their roster has gotten much much better.Shams thank you.And this big swing for Brown has resulted in already a huge shift in the odds in the East.If you look at how this trade affected both Philly and Boston swinging in the opposite direction Philly going from 60 to 120 to want to win a title Boston from 7 to 1 to 11 to 1 with the Knicks the defending champs as the favorites in the East and we are here back again.

Bobby Marks Brian Windhurst Kendrick Perkins.That was quite a statement from Jalen Brown of perk just really quickly.What were your thoughts Brad Stephens?

You failed this.You failed us.As a former Celtic player for the Celtic Nation, you dropped the ball.completely throughout this whole process.For the first time throughout this process, Brad Stevens didn't know his ass from his elbow.And he completely dropped the ball from the Giannis situation all across the board.

We're still talking about Jalen Brown here.And you gift -wrapped the Philadelphia 76ers an opportunity to the NBA Finals.Like, Jalen Brown is one of those dudes.We saw him.He's known for breaking up happy homes.He was the reason why Nico went away from Luka Doncic.

You remember how he had him looking?He couldn't even bring the ball up the floor.And all of a sudden, here we are again, witnessing another ugly divorce that shouldn't even be a conversation.Jalen Brown, make no mistake about it, is gonna go down as one of the greatest Celtics to ever lace him up.Like, when you think about guys like Cornbread Maxwell, who got his jersey retired hanging up in the Raptors, finals MVP, NBA champion, and you think about what Jalen Brown has done in the Boston Celtic uniform for his resume, he didn't deserve to be treated this way.And you could tell in this statement, I didn't say a thank you to the organization.

I didn't say a thank you to the head coach.I didn't say a thank you to his teammates.He feels some type of way, and he should.And that is going back years, as Shams told us.

Yeah, so obviously the statement is what it doesn't say more than what it says.He talks about actions over words, and then respect, and then doesn't mention anything.I don't think the word Celtics was in there at all.Yeah, it was Boston Yeah Okay, so over the last 12 hours I've had a lot of conversations trying to understand the fallout of this and I understand that there's there's a People are so in their feelings about this.I'm one of them Wendy.Well, don't don't physically harm the messenger You can get angry at the messenger

I get it.But this is what I've been able to discern.And this requires nuance.And I realize in our world right now, nuance is not something that's valued in social media.It wasn't that the league, and not just the Celtics, because this is the league.You saw what he got traded for, right?

People are like, how could he possibly get traded for that?It wasn't that the league doesn't think Jalen Brown is a great player or an excellent player.It's that the league doesn't value what he produces at his salary slot, at his salary, at $57 million, what he produces.And that is why he was traded.And that is why he was traded for relatively so little as the Celtics evaluated where they were as an organization and evaluated where they have to operate in this new world of aprons and you know, basically hard salary caps and everything like that.They said they had to move on from a player of his production level at that salary number and the other teams out there didn't disagree.

And as the more they looked at it, I think the lesser and you look at all these teams that made deals, Hannah, over the last week, these star players that got traded, trust that the Celtics were involved in some of those talks.They couldn't get in on any of those other star players, not just Giannis, other players that way they were involved for.

But are we in the city?I mean, in the season of lying?people telling lies because my thing is I gotta blame Brad for that because if Jalen Brown was made available after the Giannis deal and they wasn't tied to that, I don't believe that his value is that low.I believe that teams prayed on the Boston's prayed on the Boston Celtics because they knew that they had to get rid of him because he dropped the ball previously in the yard.

I don't disagree with that.Also what Sean was talking about with the Celtics coming in asking knowing what his value was in the Celtics asking for what they asked for that hurt as well.And as he lingered on the market, it did get worse.

So some teams were scared away by the high price tag that they were demanding initially.Yes, because they never came back to that.

When they dig into the numbers, they look at the 57 million and think about that.That's a huge factor.

Okay, but I'm saying like look at Paul George's salary.I mean if you're looking at a return on investment, Hannah, that's a reasonable thing for you to say.Yes, thank you.

Hannah, you hit it right on the head.The teams that I've talked to, and it's not just one or two, there's a lot of teams that I've talked to, the asking price was so high that teams didn't feel like they needed to go back and negotiate.And what happened was, is because we're in this free agent window that started over the weekend or early this week, everybody moved on to their own other business.Teams went out and made trades.Teams went out and signed players.So by the time this kind of came back, We were out of it.

So they just assumed that, you know, we can't make this deal happen.We're going to.

And when you look at the Philadelphia 76ers there, you could say they're the last man standing.Right.They had they had a Paul George, a team that a player that listen, you had to basically attach to a pick if you're just looking to move off them.Now you trade him with two picks and you get a top 10 player back.That's that is where teams.are trying to wrap their mind around.

One thing that people can understand that beyond all this nuance and cap analysis and analytics and whatever, they can understand this.They can understand the raw emotion of revenge.Because I will tell you this, this is a grade A revenge situation.Now that Jalen Brown enters, playing in the division, probable playoff opponent, routine playoff opponent, you know they're going to get primetime games.All four of those games are going to be primetime.You're going to be on Christmas Day.

So the great situation that we can all understand is the way he's going to feel, the seething that this statement he made today, he was seething.those words.Sure.He's going to carry that over to the 76ers.He's going to be able to shove it down the Celtics throat.And the Celtics, meanwhile, will be able to will be able to say we can live.

We believe in our and they've made big trades before that have ended up working out for them.They'll say we'll live better and we'll see how Jalen Brown.

You know what?Here's the thing, though.The Celtics felt like they weren't good enough to compete in the East after last season.So that's when they started like shopping him for Giannis.But now isn't this Celtics team?I mean, where do you put this Celtics team as it's currently constructed compared to last year?

I mean, they're going to make the playoffs, but they're not legit.

Are they better or worse?

I would say, currently constructed, I would have to lean towards the other direction, especially the moves that has been made in the Eastern Conference.The East has gotten better.

I would just say this.They have a humongous trade exception that they have from trading away Anthony Simons, which is like $27 million, right Bobby?Correct.And they have all these draft picks now.So, I agree.At this moment, you couldn't look me in the eye and say that they're better.

But they also don't have their total team done.So I guess, in fairness, we have to wait.

Do we have to wait?By the way, I will never harm you.I love you.

I might need you to protect me.