Sixers

Brian Windhorst Says the NBA Thinks the Celtics Traded Jaylen Brown “Under Duress”

By Matt Schultz

Published: Jul 2nd, 2026 · 11:16 AM EDT

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As the NBA world continues reeling over the shocking trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the Sixers on Wednesday night, Brian Windhorst says that even people in and around the league can’t wrap their heads around why Boston made this deal. According to Windy, folks he’s talking to figure the only way this trade makes sense is if the Celtics did it “under duress” – 

Brian Windhorst says the league is “GOBSMACKED” by the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown to the Sixers for Paul George

“The one thing that was becoming apparent was that Jaylen Brown's value was much lower than the Celtics thought. But the fact that they would do this trade to the… pic.twitter.com/yLtLPetjfg

— NBA Base (@TheNBABase) July 2, 2026

“The one thing that was becoming apparent was that Jaylen Brown’s value was much lower than the Celtics thought. But the fact that they would do this trade to the Sixers at this time has the league sort of feeling like they did it under duress.”

I don’t really get what this means. What does it look like for a trade to be done “under duress?” I guess the Celtics thought if they didn’t make the trade soon, Jaylen Brown was going to start demanding a trade very loudly? Maybe the Celtics believed he was going to go full James Harden in Houston and start playing an actively instigatory, antagonizing style of basketball? Would that even be so bad? At this point, could the Celtics’ return have been any lower than what they ended up getting? Clearly, JB had very little trade value around the league; what else could he have done to tank it even more? Did Boston think he was going to retire? Were they afraid that Jaylen was about to put on 200 pounds out of spite? Did they think Jaylen Brown was going to kick Brad Stevens’ ass on a live Twitch stream?

I don’t know – and ultimately, I do not care. Jaylen Brown is a Sixer. Boston botched this so, so badly. Today is a good day.