Jaylen Brown-Paul George trade grades: The Sixers just got their second big win over the Celtics in as many months

Wednesday’s trade between the 76ers and the Boston Celtics has left many puzzled. In exchange for Paul George, two first-round, and two second-round draft picks, the Sixers received Jaylen Brown from the Celtics.

Still, despite the struggle to make sense of how the trade unfolded, people had a lot of thoughts.

Here is how the national experts are grading the George-Brown trade ...

Sixers: A-

With guards like Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe and a center like Joel Embiid, ESPN wrote that Brown could be the fit that the Sixers needed, but that’s also not guaranteed.

“As a pure talent play, trading this package for Brown should have been an incredibly easy decision for the 76ers’ new front office,” Zach Kram wrote. “They’re swapping a declining role player for an All-NBA star who’s six years younger and still at his peak, and they’re not giving up close to all the draft capital they could have in the process.”

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Celtics: D+

As for the other end of the trade, there was no wondering how George would fit. No matter what, ESPN wrote that it was a bad move on the Celtics’ part. The only alternative ESPN considered was if the Celtics would package the picks they received in the deal for another star.

“Swapping Brown for George makes the Celtics worse. It clearly makes them worse. Crucially, it lowers their playoff ceiling,” Kram wrote.

Sixers: A

The Athletic predicts that swapping George for Brown will be a big difference-maker for the Sixers and their position in the Eastern Conference, especially considering George’s previous season, 25-game suspension and all, compared to Brown, who had one of his best individual seasons.

“The Sixers can now roll out a perimeter attack of Maxey, Brown and Edgecombe, which is going to be nearly impossible for teams to match up against,” Zach Harper wrote. “On the nights Embiid is available and active, they could be one of the best teams in the East. On the nights when Embiid is struggling or unable to play, they’ll still be fine.”

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Celtics: D+

The Celtics’ part in this trade, the Athletic said, feels like a panic move in reaction to the tension Brown seemed to be feeling following the discussions about his role in a possible trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“The Celtics’ decision to go with George instead of Brown is a massive downgrade. He has a much more alarming injury history, and he’s simply not as good,” Harper wrote.

Sixers: A+

When ranking the worst contracts in the NBA in March, the now-36-year-old George’s deal was No. 4. Moving off that contract and adding Brown is a win-win in CBS’s eyes.

“For all of these years, we’ve talked about the possibility of Brown getting traded so he could lead his own team,” Sam Quinn wrote. “On the 76ers, there will be nights in which he’s the leading scorer and there will be nights in which he finishes fourth. To get a reliable, in-his-prime All-Star for two picks and what we’ve been treating as one of the NBA’s worst contracts is an outright steal.”

Celtics: D-

For the Celtics, CBS Sports considered how Brown’s contract no longer worked for the team, but still, George’s contract doesn’t seem to make sense for them, either.

“The theory of trading Brown in the first place, unless there was unresolvable tension behind the scenes, seemingly related to his contract,” Quinn wrote. “Both he and Tatum are making supermax money. Having two players make 35% of the salary cap every year puts an almost impossible strain on your depth.”

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Sixers: A

Yahoo! Sports minced no words in declaring that Philly got the better player in the deal, while also dumping a worse contract. There are, however, concerns with Brown’s fit with the Sixers.

“Brown isn’t necessarily a strong outside shooter, which is a necessity alongside Maxey and, in particular, Embiid,” Morten Stig Jensen wrote.

“Overall, though, Philly takes a step forward here with a pretty durable 29-year-old coming off an outstanding season.”

Celtics: B

Yahoo! Sports had a much more optimistic spin than most other experts when it came to Boston and the dimensions of the trade.

“George, 36, might have health issues, but when he does play, his shooting capabilities align perfectly with the values of head coach Joe Mazzulla, which shouldn’t be undervalued,” Stig Jensen wrote.

Sixers: A

Like the rest of the experts, Bleacher Report gave the Sixers high marks on acquiring Brown, with a focus on how he can fit with Embiid.

“This is a big swing for a team that can compete for a conference finals berth if Joel Embiid is healthy in the playoffs,” the Bleacher Report NBA staff wrote. “And having an innings eater like Brown should make it easier to be very gentle with Embiid’s regular-season minutes.”

Celtics: A

The difference, however, between Bleacher Report and other outlets came in its viewing of the trade from Boston’s perspective, seeing their return as equal to what they traded away.

“For the Celtics, things had clearly gotten untenable between Brown and the organization,” Bleacher Report wrote. “And getting multiple first-rounders for him, considering how widely accepted his future departure was, is good value.

“Plus, though he’s entering his age-36 season, George can still be helpful in a complementary role next to Jayson Tatum (and will be more willing to be in that role).”