A week ago, the Celtics were talking about trading Jaylen Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo. A tough call, but true franchise players like Giannis rarely become available. When that deal fell apart, many expected Brad Stevens to welcome Brown back to the fold and tinker around the edges of a roster that still ranked among the best in the East.
Instead, the Celtics made Brown available to the rest of the league signaling an ugly end to one of the most successful on-court partnerships of the last decade between him and Jayson Tatum. How we got from there to where we are now is a mystery that will surely be unravelled via various Twitch streams and anonymous sources.
Where we are now still seems surreal several hours after the news broke. In exchange for an All-NBA performer in his prime who just finished sixth in the MVP voting, all Stevens got for Brown is 36-year-old Paul George and a handful of draft picks. What a weirdly unsatisfying ending to an incredibly strange saga.
