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The NBA is still reeling from Wednesday's stunning trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics traded the 29-year-old All-NBA forward to their rivals for Paul George, two future first-round picks and two future second-round picks.
Follow along for the latest reaction, news and analysis from this deal and all the others this summer.
Walker Kessler. Quentin Grimes. Sandro Mamukelashvili. Collin Sexton.
The Lakers have made a cluster of moves in free agency. Have they improved around Luka Dončić?
I realize the pickings are getting slim, and the Lakers need to sign a real 4 at some point. But I just don't understand what Jonathan Kuminga — who is receiving "significant consideration" as a free-agent signing, according to our Dan Woike — would do for them.
The Lakers need shooters and plus defenders to put around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, not 1-on-1 scorers who need the ball to be effective.
A consistent theme from Jaylen Brown's Twitch comments tonight was his connection to the city of Boston. It wasn’t just superficial.
There are few players in the NBA who have invested so deeply into socioeconomic change in the way he has. He has gone way beyond giving money, or even time. He took on the mission of evolving Boston and making it a more equitable place for minorities.
So much of what he did in his adopted home served a bigger purpose. You could see it in how much time he dedicated to talking with kids when he put events together, or how he held meetings quietly behind closed doors with people in positions of power to advocate for policy change. Look at what he did with signing his contract extension at his Bridge program, or his sneaker unveiling at the Museum of Science that featured a panel on science education with Bill Nye.
The Celtics trading Brown has a much bigger effect on the city of Boston than just losing a beloved Celtic player. I’ve been back in Boston this week, and so many of the people I know in the political and creative space are devastated by this trade because they valued Brown as much as a leader in the community as they did an athlete.
And that’s why the character assassination stuff he called out on his stream was so prescient. I’ve seen him constantly put himself in rooms where it was clear his intent was to grow and to share, not to be the smartest person there.
I remember when he spoke on the education system at MIT when he first got to Boston, struggled to get his presentation out cleanly, then kept improving and growing as a thought leader from there. From the beginning, he put himself out there trying to implement change in the community. He built a legacy few athletes have.
It’s honestly the first thing I think of when I think about his time in Boston.
GO FURTHER
As Jaylen Brown signs record contract, his biggest goals are off the court
Jaylen Brown just wants to know what it was that got him traded after he just finished the best season of his career and carried the Boston Celtics to a 56-win season without co-star Jayson Tatum for much of the year.
In his first public comments since he was shockingly traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, Brown said there had to be “more to it” than his play on the court. And in Brown’s mind, the saga that led to him being dealt to the 76ers wasn’t a fair turn of events.
“There was definitely a message being sent, and that message was received,” the five-time All-Star said Thursday on his Twitch stream. “I wasn’t thrilled with the amount of respect that was shown during this process.
Like my colleague John Hollinger, I’m also surprised about Tari Eason getting a deal that starts at a bit less than the full non-taxpayer midlevel number of about $15 million for five years.
Eason is a very effective player when he’s out on the court but has struggled a bit to stay healthy over his four years. He’s missed over 100 games in the last three seasons and played no more than 60 games in a year since his rookie season.
The security of a five-year deal may have helped keep the per-season number lower. But when he’s out there, Eason has one of the best motors in basketball while also possessing an exceptional intersection of length, power and explosiveness. He’s also taken strides as a shooter every year. While he doesn’t really get a crazy amount of attention from defenses as a shooter from 3, he has upped his volume every year, and I’d argue he had his best season as a shooter last season, hitting 36 percent from 3 on over four attempts per game.
The key for Eason will be continuing to improve his decision-making as he gets more experience; that can sometimes let him down. He just needs to process what’s happening out there a bit more quickly. But he’s excellent on defense, he gets you extra possessions on offense, and he is the epitome of a guy you want in your foxhole.
It’s a great deal for Houston, and it’s good to see Eason make generational wealth on a deal.
Tari Eason, somewhat surprisingly, is getting slightly less than the nontaxpayer midlevel exception on this new deal with Houston. That deal should start at $14 million in 2026-27 if it includes the standard 8 percent raises.
The Rockets are now $14 million from the second-apron level of $221.7 million, where they are hard-capped due to Marcus Smart's signing, and must fill at least two more roster spots. One of those would likely be 31st pick Bruce Thornton, who can be signed using the second-round exception.
The Lakers' moves in free agency have been a hot topic in calls and texts among executives and agents, with plenty wondering if the Lakers overpaid for Walker Kessler and if they left themselves without any ammunition to upgrade the roster down the road.
While the team isn't done with its roster build — as we reported yesterday, the Lakers are looking at wings, with Jonathan Kuminga high on that list — its moves have received a thumbs up from the locker-room presence that matter most.
According to league sources, Luka Dončić was "excited" about the Lakers' signings, with the team addressing his biggest desires for the roster by keeping Austin Reaves and getting an elite rim-protecting center in Kessler.
Those sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deals have not been completed, said the Lakers kept in regular communication with Dončić and his team despite a significant time gap, with the star guard spending his summer in Europe.
The Lakers open their summer schedule Friday in the California Classic, with first-round pick Cameron Carr and last year's rookie, Adou Thiero, both on the roster.
Mitchell Robinson was a fun person to cover. He always made the Knicks' locker room entertaining. Always had jokes.
Well that was quite a time on the fchwpo stream.
And I'm quite sure there wasn't a single Jayson Tatum mention the whole time.
Pat Spencer's legacy with the Warriors is secure, which is impressive considering he was a role player who started in the G-League, spent several years working towards a standard NBA deal and only played spotty minutes in parts of four seasons.
Spencer, who agreed to a two-way contract with the Suns Thursday, was respected up and down the Warriors' organization for his work ethic and his attitude every day. From Steve Kerr on down, people appreciated the way Spencer went about his business, the fire he played with each day (especially on the practice floor) and that he turned himself into an NBA player after such a decorated college lacrosse career.
Spencer will also be remembered for being "that motherf—–" Players curse all the time on an NBA floor, but rarely with the gusto, from the end of the bench, that Spencer did it back in December when he knocked down a 3 late in a game in Philadelphia. That moment changed the way people viewed him across the league. Spencer's teammates and coaches had a good time reminding anyone listening that Spencer was not a dude to be messed with when he got rolling.
While Spencer couldn't maintain that level of production over the course of the season, he became a fan favorite who left his mark on the Bay.
GO FURTHER
Warriors’ Pat Spencer’s rise to the NBA fueled by competitive fire: ‘I go apes—’
Forward Tari Eason and the Houston Rockets agreed to a five-year, $81.5 million contract Thursday, according to league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed.
Eason’s deal is fully guaranteed. It includes a player option in the fifth year and a 10 percent trade kicker, those league sources told The Athletic.
Eason entered the offseason as a restricted free agent and nailed down a deal that keeps the 25-year-old in Houston at a reasonable price. The contract also gives him long-term security despite his checkered injury history during the first few years of his career.
"I f— with PG," Jaylen Brown said about Paul George.
Brown added that George playing well vs. the Celtics in the playoffs helped this deal go down. The Sixers, of course, came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Boston in the first round.
Brown also said that he tried his keycard at the Celtics facility one last time, and it didn't work.
Jaylen Brown is now calling Tyrese Maxey, who wants to "pull up" to the chat.
VJ Edgecombe just called Jaylen Brown, and they're having a conversation live on Brown's Twitch stream.
VJ: "I know it's JB, I got your number, bro."
This is a whole commercial.
Jaylen Brown responded to recent comments by FOX Sports personality Colin Cowherd, who said two NBA personnel told him Brown carried himself like "the smartest in the room:"
"I never told anybody, 'I'm the smartest person in the room,'" Brown said. "Maybe they took it (that way), but let's be, let's keep it a buck. In sports, no offense to everybody in sports, but the bar is f—–g low. The bar (on intelligence) isn't that high."
Jaylen Brown again talked about he's had to shift his mental allegiance to Philadelphia:
"My brain is doing a 360 right now," he said, (though he probably meant 'a 180.') "Like, literally.
"I've been programmed to be like, 'what, Philly? Nah, it's smoke.' Now, it's 'What, Boston?' Now it's smoke the other way."
Jaylen Brown said he's ready to trade in his clam chowder for a cheesesteak.
"I got to grab me a Philly cheesesteak or sum."
On his latest Twitch stream, Jaylen Brown repeated his claim that this was "his favorite season" in Boston.
He initially said that in early May, one day after the Celtics were eliminated in Game 7 by the 76ers.
Jaylen Brown repeated his earlier statement that there was "more to it" with his trade.
"It just didn't make no sense, I'm still piecing it together," Brown said. "It happened very, very sudden. Like everything was fine, and then it wasn't. So, I know it's more to it, but you know, I just wish they could explain that 'More to it', it would've have been helpful. I would have respected that."
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