Jaylen Brown did everything Boston could have asked for. He became Finals MVP, helped deliver Banner 18, and looked like the second face of the franchise for years to come. Yet the Cs chose to show him the door. As the shock of Boston’s decision to send him to the Philadelphia 76ers settles in, Tracy McGrady’s warning from May suddenly feels impossible to ignore. Now, Carmelo Anthony has added fuel to that fire, suggesting Brown’s battle was never just about basketball.

On the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, the Melo suggested Brown reached a breaking point. Despite delivering on the court, he never felt fully backed by the people who mattered most. That lack of trust forced him to take control of his own future. Melo believes the Celtics left Brown feeling unsupported, not just underappreciated by fans.

Then he turned towards the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum duo. “I do believe that him and JT was on the same page. I do believe that they spoke; I do believe that they had a conversation. They had to,” Anthony noted. “I’m just saying it’s not about JT getting him out of there or Brown and JT not working together. I think it’s way past that. I think it’s top-level. This has nothing to do with Jayson Tatum and JB. Those guys are very close. I think this is top-level, and Boston exposed their hand. They exposed their hand.”

In May, Tracy McGrady told Vince Carter, “I think his frustration lies deeply within the organization and other things that. So I think part of him is like ‘I showed you guys more of who I am as a basketball player, not only just what I did on the basketball court, but the leadership that I displayed within this team, and you’ve seen that, not having our best player in JT. You’ve seen the different side of me and what I’m able to bring to the game of basketball.'”

When you talk about underrated stars in the league, Jaylen Brown is probably one of them. In the 2025-26 season, in Jayson Tatum’s absence, he was on an MVP-caliber run. He averaged a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game for a team that won 56 games. He was the primary reason behind the C’s finishing second in the Eastern Conference despite a rough start.

Therefore, the obvious claim that comes up now that JB is gone is…

The Boston Celtics won’t get a second Jaylen Brown

Sportsbooks set Boston’s 2025-26 preseason line at 41.5 wins, yet the Celtics stayed among the East’s best as he produced career highs. That surge pushed Jaylen Brown to sixth in MVP voting and earned him All-NBA Second Team honors. He even finished only a few votes behind Cade Cunningham for a First Team spot. Still, advanced metrics painted a different picture. Boston went 9- 2 without Brown, while opponents averaged only 96.7 points, raising questions about his overall impact despite his defensive reputation.

The trend stretched well beyond missed games. In Game 7 against Philadelphia, Brown poured in 33 points with Jayson Tatum sidelined, yet Boston was minus 16 across his 40 minutes before outscoring the Sixers 21 to 14 while he rested. Across the season, the Celtics outscored opponents by 9.4 points per 100 possessions with Brown off the floor, scoring 121.3. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard thrived, while Boston slipped to 119.9 points and a 5.7 margin once Brown returned.

As a result, questions about Paul George replacing JB in Boston have naturally surfaced. While George can fill that role on paper in spurts, he hardly looks like a realistic long-term replacement for Jaylen Brown. After all, injuries have limited him to just 78 games over the past two seasons. Besides, PG is well past his prime.

“You don’t go out there and dangle Jaylen Brown out there like that. We’re not just talking about a regular player. How many of these guys like Jaylen Brown has went through this?” Carmelo Anthony firmly stated. And well, he isn’t wrong!