For most of his career, Jaylen Brown was the subject of trade rumors as the Boston Celtics have tried to find a running mate to pair with superstar Jayson Tatum for the last eight years.

Despite their efforts, Boston’s never been able to finish the deal for Brown. In 2018, they tried to trade him for Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis in 2019, Kevin Durant in 2022, and most recently for Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason.

Brown has been able to put his head down and block out most of the speculation throughout his career, but it wasn’t until this offseason that the noise became too loud for him. After having the best season of his career leading the Celtics to a top playoff seed, they tried again to trade him.

Last season, Brown got what he wanted: to be the No. 1 option for the Celtics. He averaged 28.7 points per game on 48/35/79 shooting splits in 71-games. He also had 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and one steal in 34.7 minutes per game. He finished sixth in MVP voting and was named Second-Team All-NBA.

Now that Brown is in Philadelphia, his role isn’t going to be much different than what he was with Boston, as he’s not going to be the No. 1 on the 76ers with Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. And if the rumors are true on Philly possibly acquiring LeBron James, then Brown’s role is certainly going to take a hit.

According to Heavy’s Sean Deveney, an NBA executive told him that he questions how Brown will accept his new role as a potential third option if he didn’t already enjoy sharing the ball with Tatum in Boston.

“Jaylen is a great player and he is not going to be a locker room problem or anything like that, but if he wasn’t real happy sharing the ball with Jayson Tatum, how happy is he going to be in this set-up? Isn’t it the same issue?”

Although Brown isn’t a free agent until 2029, he’s going to be extension eligible next season and it’s possible that the 76ers don’t engage in that, which could eventually lead to Brown being traded again in the near future.

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