The Boston Celtics didn't trade for Paul George to have him be the new Jaylen Brown, and that's exactly what fans should be excited about.
For years, there was this unnecessary debate in Boston between Brown and Jayson Tatum. Who was better? Who would you trust to lead your team more? Whose team is this anyway? And a lot of that stemmed from the fact that they had so many similarities (drafted third overall one year apart, in their primes at the same time, both elite two-way wings, and were mostly utilized as a 1A-1B instead of having one clear go-to guy and then a super sidekick).
While trading Brown was an incredibly controversial decision for the Celtics, it at least gets rid of this narrative and dynamic, both on and off the court. This is Tatum's team now, and George is going to do whatever he can to help him lead the squad -- he even said so himself.
Paul George is going to be a great sidekick to Jayson Tatum
During his introductory press conference, the Fresno State alum made it clear that he recognizes that Tatum is the lead guy in Boston, and he's here to coexist with him and get the best out of both of them.
“We have a superstar, and that's JT,” George said. “I'm not here to necessarily steal the shine or try to reinvent who I am. I'm here to help JT, and he's the guy. I played alongside another superstar wing, and we coexisted beautifully. I see that with myself. I see that with JT being able to play off him, being able to help him, being able to kind of still be a mentor."
“I can play off another superstar wing and still bring a presence, and still be on the side of doing everything to win.”
George has the right mindset. He can still play, and he already showed the Celtics firsthand in the playoffs that he has a lot left in the tank, but he's not with the team to be another superstar. He's not in Boston to prove he can turn back the clock to his Indiana Pacers days and prove he can be an MVP candidate again.
The Celtics don't have a 1A-1B dynamic anymore, and that's a great thing. It's all about playing to Tatum's strengths and his presence in the system, and everything should run much more smoothly now that everybody is on board with that. And that's especially true given how good of a fit George is in Boston's system on paper.
The Celtics won't miss Jaylen Brown as much as we think
I loved Brown more than the average Celtics fan did. I was thrilled when the Celtics drafted him in 2016 (it was always wild to me that fans booed him; you're telling me there were thousands of people who preferred Dragan Bender, Kris Dunn, or Buddy Hield?). I defended Boston's decision to sign him to then-lucrative contract extensions in 2019 and 2023. I was against the team possibly trading him at any point between 2021 and 2024 (even for Kevin Durant). And I was even hoping they wouldn't trade him earlier this offseason.
Maybe trading Brown will come back to bite the Celtics in the end. He was a homegrown star who always showed love for the city of Boston, and he is an important part of the franchise's legacy.
But the Celtics also ran their course with him. There was no world where they were going to win another championship if they had kept him and Tatum together for the rest of their careers, and moving on from him now was probably the right call.
It's fair to wonder if Boston could have gotten more for him in return, or if sending him to the Philadelphia 76ers really was the best move, but it seemed like his market wasn't as robust as everybody had thought. Plus, George can be a really good addition for the Celtics (if nothing else, he can still be a good mentor to Tatum and can help him unlock another level of his game), and fans should be excited about having the Los Angeles Clippers' first-round pick in 2028.
Brown was a great Celtic, and if I were a betting man, I would bet that his legacy with the team is going to be 100x greater than George's when it's all said and done. But that doesn't mean this trade won't work out for Boston in the end. The Celtics have surprised people before, and it could very possibly happen again very soon.
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