Jaylen Brown is now eligible to sign a one-year contract extension with Sixers
An extension would take Brown's contract through the 2029-30 season, and could be worth nearly $69 million. Boston executive Brad Stevens cited Brown's salary as a reason for trading him.
Jaylen Brown has yet to play a game for the 76ers, following the stunning blockbuster trade from the Boston Celtics earlier this month.
Yet a significant Brown-related decision already faces the Sixers. The All-NBA wing on Sunday became eligible for a one-year contract extension that could be worth nearly $69 million, which would keep him signed through the 2029-30 season.
If Brown does not sign the one-year extension this offseason, he will become eligible for a three-year extension in the 2027 offseason.
This all further demonstrates the financial investment the Sixers are making in Brown, who last season finished sixth in voting for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award and is a five-time All-Star and former Finals MVP. He has three years remaining on his current supermax deal, with salaries of $57.7 million for the upcoming season, $61.7 million in 2027-28, and $65.6 million in 2028-29.
» READ MORE: LeBron James explained why he picked the Sixers. Here are four other factors that may have helped.
It also aligns with the rationale given by Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens for why he dealt Brown in his prime.
Had Brown stayed with the Celtics, he instead would have been eligible for a two-year, $142 million extension. Stevens cited a reason for the trade was that Brown and fellow star Jayson Tatum — who has four years remaining on his current contract, including a $71.4 million player option for 2029-30 — would take up approximately 70% of the Celtics’ salary cap. That makes it increasingly more challenging to build out a roster with strong complementary players under the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, with “apron” penalties including trade restrictions for high-spending teams.
Stevens repeatedly used the word “optionality” when describing the roster-building reasons for the move that shocked the NBA.
“I might be wrong. I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that,” Stevens said at a news conference following the trade. “But the path [to winning a championship] looked a little bit more challenging. ... You have to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual.”
But Brown being traded to the Sixers knocked his extension eligibility down to one year, because players on new teams are only allowed to extend their contracts out to four total seasons. Per NBA cap expert Keith Smith, the salary figure Brown can earn on that additional year is the greater number of either the max salary for a player with 10 years of NBA service, which Spotrac projects to be $66.9 million in 2029-30, or a 5% raise on the final year of his current deal, which is $68.9 million.
Though adding Brown is a bit less of an immediate financial burden for the Sixers, it still creates a top-heavy salary cap sheet for multiple seasons.
Former NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid is slated to make $57.7 million on his max extension in the upcoming season, then $62.4 million in 2027-28 and $67 million in 2028-29. All-NBA guard Tyrese Maxey also has three years remaining on his first max contract, at $40.8 million for the upcoming season, then $43.6 million in 2027-28, and $46.4 million in 2028-29.
Though both contracts are scheduled to come off the books in the 2029 offseason — barring another max or supermax extension for Maxey — standout guard VJ Edgecombe will be eligible to sign his first (potentially max) extension in the 2028 offseason.
It is possible the Sixers could persuade Edgecombe to take the same route that Maxey once did. Instead of signing a max extension when eligible entering the final year of his rookie contract, in 2023, Maxey waited a year before inking a max deal. That gave Maxey a smaller cap hit in the 2024 offseason, and more financial flexibility for the Sixers that they ultimately used to sign Paul George to a four-year max contract.
Today that George deal is considered even more of an albatross than Brown’s contract, because George is older (36), no longer a perennial All-Star, and has struggled to stay on the court in recent seasons. But he will come off Boston’s books sooner, with two years remaining on his deal including a player option. That contract also becomes increasingly easier to trade the closer it gets to expiring.
» READ MORE: Grading Mike Gansey’s transformational first offseason as Sixers president
Just because Brown is now eligible for the one-year extension does not mean that will be offered by the Sixers and agreed to immediately — or at all.
Yet it is a reminder of at least part of the Celtics’ justification for trading Brown. And it gives the Sixers a Brown-related decision before he even steps on the court for his new team.
