'Why In God's Name?': Reactions To Sixers Stunning Jaylen Brown Trade

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Shock and awe poured in from around the basketball world Wednesday night into Thursday morning after the Sixers landed Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown in a stunning and seemingly lopsided trade with their archrivals.

In exchange for the 29-year-old Brown, who finished sixth in MVP voting last year, the Sixers sent 36-year-old Paul George and three future draft picks up to Boston.

Most rumors indicate that Brown's relationship with Boston's front office had become untenable. Despite essentially putting the Celtics on his shoulders last season and leading them to a second place finish in the eastern conference, Boston repeatedly tried to trade him, including offering him for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo a few weeks ago.

See also: Sixers Trade For Celtics Star Jaylen Brown, Reportedly Want Lebron James

Some think the Sixers simply offered Boston the best deal as they looked to move on.

But in grading the deal, ESPN gave the Sixers an "A-" and the Celtics a "D+." That feels generous for Boston.

"Why in God’s name, if you’re the Boston Celtics, and you’re gonna move away from a dude that gave you 28 a night and proved he can be a 1 option?” analyst Stephen A. Smith said, adding that Brown was going to "do wonders in the city of Philadelphia."

ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst said the league was "gobsmacked" by the deal.

"The fact that they (Boston) would do this trade to the Sixers at this time has the league sort of feeling like they did it under duress," he added.

"I hate it, you hate it, everyone hates the trade," Celtics analyst John Zannis said.

Others put the trade in historical contest.

"There was the Babe Ruth trade out of Boston and then this is probably next," NBA writer Marc J. Spears argued.

"If the Luka Doncic trade is the worst ever made, this Jaylen Brown one by Boston is easily the second worst," Clutch Points's Brett Siegel said. "This makes absolutely no sense."

“It must be so toxic internally and the atmosphere so negative and so broken, because you would ostensibly rather do nothing than this trade," Ringer podcaster Zach Lowe said. "It’s absolutely stunning."

“He’s also polarizing, thoughtful, well-spoken, outspoken, expensive and had apparently fallen so out of favor with Brad Stevens and the rest of Boston’s front office that he was traded for relative pennies on the dollar," The Athletic's Tony Jones reported.

It's the first major deal for Mike Gansey, the Sixers new president of basketball operations who took over after Daryl Morey was fired this spring. Its bound to be historic no matter the final result, as the archrival Sixers and Celtics have never in their history exchanged such significant on-court pieces.