Former 76ers vet takes surprising stance for Celtics after Jaylen Brown trade

The Sixer Sense · Jul 20, 2026 20:45 · 3 min read

Former 76ers vet takes surprising stance for Celtics after Jaylen Brown trade — Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) reacts to scoring against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first half at TD Garden. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

While the Philadelphia 76ers get a lot of credit for the Jaylen Brown trade, the ex-Sixer PJ Tucker believes the Celtics won the deal.

There aren’t too many takes flying out there that give the Boston Celtics credit for being on the right side of the blockbuster deal with the Philadelphia 76ers in early July.

However, former 76ers veteran PJ Tucker took a bold stance during a discussion about the infamous Jaylen Brown-Paul George swap on the Club 520 podcast.

"If you look at the playoff series this year, PG might have had a better series than JB,” Tucker said. “So how does Philly win? I think it’s tough.”

If it hasn’t been made clear enough, Tucker is still a fan of the Celtics, despite their decision to split up Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, after they established themselves as a championship-winning duo in recent years.

Should the Sixers worry about PJ Tucker’s opinion?

Tucker’s point is certainly valid, in the sense that George’s contributions helped the Sixers seal the deal in the series against the Celtics. However, George wasn’t a lone star. The Sixers had stellar contributions across the board, and Joel Embiid was the clear difference-maker in the series, helping the Sixers come back from a 1-3 deficit.

Not to mention, Brown was tasked with more than expected in Game 7, as Jayson Tatum was surprisingly ruled out for the game after the Celtics insisted he wasn’t going to miss any action. The Celtics put up a good fight, but didn’t have enough to slow down Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in the end.

During the series, George averaged 17.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.4 steals. He shot 55.0% from three.

Meanwhile, Brown produced averages of 25.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks. Brown attempted 6.0 threes per game, and shot 40.5% from beyond the arc.

And going beyond the first-round series, it was quite clear Brown had the better 2025-2026 regular season. Playing most of the season as the Celtics’ No. 1 option, Brown thrived. He appeared in 71 games and put together an All-NBA, All-Star campaign. The Celtics finished as a top team in the Eastern Conference. Brown earned his paycheck.

As for Paul George, he had a second-straight season of availability struggles with the Sixers. After seeing the court for 41 games during the 2024-2025 NBA season, George played in only 37 games in 2025-2026. That’s a lot of missed time for a player who will make $211.5 million when his current contract runs out.

Tucker is entitled to his opinion, of course. The former Sixers player isn’t giving his old team the ‘W’ for this trade, but that’s definitely a rare stance. The 76ers shouldn’t feel any sort of insecurity for making that deal. After two years of the Paul George experience, it was clearly time to move on. Getting a star-caliber player, while going younger, is a clear winning situation for the Sixers.