The 2013 trade that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn for four first-round picks delivered Jaylen Brown in 2016 and Jayson Tatum in 2017. This summer Boston ran the same play in reverse, sending Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and four picks of its own.
Boston has sold a core for picks before, and it worked.
The 2013 trade of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn returned four first-round picks. Two of them became Brown, drafted in 2016, and Tatum, drafted in 2017 — the pairing known as the Jays that reached a Finals and won the 18th championship in 2024. This summer's trade reversed the direction: Brown left for Philadelphia, and Boston received George plus two firsts and two seconds. The return on the first version of this trade took eight years to show up. This one is unproven until a ball goes up.
Philadelphia, not Los Angeles, is the rival that matters right now.
Boston's 18 championships are the most in the league, a total that passed the Lakers with the 2023-24 title, breaking a 17-17 tie. That history still sets the measuring stick by banner count. But the team that ended Boston's 2026 season, erasing a 3-1 series lead in the first round, was Philadelphia, and the 76ers are also the team that now has Brown. The rivalry with the Lakers is institutional. The one with the 76ers is current and unresolved.
The parquet outlasts every roster that plays on it.
Red Auerbach's signature and pieces of championship banners are worked into the City Edition jerseys, printed over the same parquet pattern that has carried 18 title teams. The names underneath it keep changing: Max Shulga left September 21, Hayden Gray and Gabe McGlothan arrived September 23, and the camp roster now includes rookies Chris Cenac Jr. and Milos Uzan, neither with an NBA game played. Twenty-three retired numbers and 49 Hall of Famers set a standard that has nothing to do with any one trade. The names on the floor change. What the floor represents hasn't.
Why did the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown?
Boston sent Brown to Philadelphia this summer for Paul George and four draft picks, two firsts and two seconds, ending the Brown-Tatum pairing known as the Jays after a 2026 first-round exit in which Boston blew a 3-1 series lead to the 76ers.
How many championships have the Celtics won?
Eighteen, the most in NBA history. Boston passed the Lakers for that record with the 2023-24 title, which broke a 17-17 tie between the two franchises.
More from The Parquet Report
all Celtics news →
Around the beat · Thu, Oct 1Camp Notebooks: White's Shot, Tatum's Role, a Crowded Frontcourt
Morning · Thu, Oct 1Boston's Best Lineup From Last Season No Longer Exists
Player focus · Wed, Sep 30Neemias Queta's Cheapest Season Is Also His Most Important
Cap watch · Wed, Sep 30Over the Tax, Under the Apron: Boston's Cap Snapshot
Morning · Wed, Sep 30The Rumor Mill Names Names. It Adds No Information.
By the numbers · Tue, Sep 29Five Numbers That Explain Boston Before a Game Is Played