Celtics Notes: Mazzulla, Tonje, White, Mitchell
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged the need for a “grieving process” after the trade of Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia, but he’s also looking forward to what the team’s new additions will bring next season, writes Jay King of The Athletic. Boston acquired Paul George in the Brown deal and signed Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley in free agency, adding three accomplished veterans to an already talented roster.
“We’re getting three guys back,” Mazzulla said. “One guy was a champion. So, we can leverage the experience that he had in the current moment of like, ‘Hey, what worked for you guys? How can we learn from little stuff that you did?’ And there’s two guys that haven’t (won a championship) yet. And how can we leverage, for lack of a better phrase, the hungriness or the desperation that they may have to try and get to that point?
“And then we have a group of guys who have felt both winning and losing, and losing hurts worse after you’ve won because now you’ve felt both sides of that. So, we have different experiences in the locker room that we need to try to recreate and just take advantage of those off-the-court experiences and then (determine) how can we help them on the court.”
Mazzulla is particularly intrigued by what Robinson can provide after he played a valuable role in the Knicks’ just-completed championship run. Robinson should be an upgrade from the big men the Celtics had coming off the bench last season.
“Everyone’s going to talk about the offensive rebounding, but his defensive versatility and his pick-and-roll defense is good,” Mazzulla added. “And we’ll be able to go to some different tactics because of that. So, it’s not just the offense, but again, it’s both. I’m excited about the skill, but I’m excited about the freshness of winning; it’s very fresh in your mind, and you have a taste of that. So, how can you help us have an understanding of what that looked like from your perspective?”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- John Tonje is making a strong case at Summer League to fill one of the team’s two-way slots, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. Tonje appeared in six games last season after being acquired from Utah in February and has been impressive in Las Vegas, posting 17 points and five rebounds in Sunday’s win over Charlotte. “I know that’s kind of in the back of my mind,” Tonje said of the two-way opportunity. “But I’m focused on getting better each day. I love to improve and blessed to be here. Just leading with that, being grateful every day and giving everything I have every day and the rest will take care of itself.”
- Derrick White helped out the coaching staff during Sunday’s game as an active participant on the sidelines, Robb adds in a separate story. White, who has also been heavily involved at practice, explains that it’s part of his effort to bounce back after a down season. “Honestly, I just wanted to attack the summer and get better,” he said. “Obviously, I don’t think I played that great last year, so that’s kind of what I’ve been focusing on this whole summer. … I gotta shoot it better obviously. But there are a lot of little things I want to work on.”
- Second-round pick Dillon Mitchell only made one three-pointer with St. John’s last season, but the Celtics see potential in his outside shot and are encouraging him to fire away during Summer League, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscription required). Mitchell went 2-of-5 from beyond the arc on Sunday as the Hornets gave him plenty of room to shoot. “[Celtics coaches] were looking at me every time like, ‘Just shoot the ball,’” Mitchell said. “Just going out there and playing confident, especially hearing their confidence in me to just shoot the ball. I know they’re going to crash [for offensive rebounds].”
Celtics’ Brad Stevens Discusses Jaylen Brown Trade
Speaking to the media on Monday just hours after the trade sending Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia was officially finalized, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens explained that he and the front office decided to make a deal with the Sixers in order to give the team more “optionality” going forward. In describing that optionality, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN and Jay King of The Athletic write, Stevens cited Paul George‘s shorter contract, as well as the draft assets Boston acquired in the deal.
“When I looked at our team and where the league was heading, looked at the way that we’ve finished the last couple years and at the unbelievable way we’ve played in the regular season in the last couple years, the path looked a little bit more challenging to me,” Stevens said. “I might be wrong. I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that, but the path looked a little bit more challenging, with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players (Brown and Jayson Tatum).
“The reality in this day and age at the NBA, and you could see it obviously with the last couple of champions … you have to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. And that’s not an easy thing to do. And that’s absolutely nothing against Jaylen. If you have Jaylen Brown on your team, you should feature him, you should use all those possessions and you should approach things that way. But I think the importance of depth and then obviously, we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall.”
While there has been speculation that the relationship between the Celtics and Brown had deteriorated to the point that Stevens felt the team couldn’t bring him back, he denied that the front office felt that way, telling reporters, “We didn’t feel like we had to do something.”
Stevens added that Brown and the Celtics weren’t disgruntled with one another and that he was optimistic any hard feelings created by the five-time All-Star’s name coming up so frequently in trade rumors this summer could’ve been smoothed over if the club had ultimately decided not to make a move.
“It was very loud and, obviously, there was a lot of talk everywhere,” Stevens said of the trade rumors leading up to the deal with Philadelphia. “But we still weren’t going to do anything unless we felt like it was the right return. And the return for us was two-fold. It was, number one, is there an opportunity to get somebody in the door or get tools that could allow you to get others in the door, that could keep you at a good level. And number two, would there be assets attached that would then be usable in future deals.
“At the end of the day, we made what I think was a really hard decision. One that comes with very little sleep to do the trade.”
While Stevens did reference the fact that the combination of Brown and Tatum was taking up such a significant percentage of the Celtics’ cap, he suggested that was more about cap management than the money itself. Team owner Bill Chisholm, who also appeared at Monday’s presser, insisted the deal wasn’t financially motivated, stating that it was about putting Boston in a better position to contend in the long term.
“It’s not about the money at all,” Chisholm said. “This was, again, trying to put together the right set of players and assets to win now, to win next year, the following year, the year after that. That’s what this was about. None of these were about money. We have some more room now. If we see something we wanted, Brad’s got the green light to do that.
“I know people feel like, ‘Oh, there must be a smoking gun somewhere around the money.’ That’s just not what this is about. And I can say it and I’ll keep saying it, but I’ll also prove it to you. When we have the opportunity, we’re going to do that and we’ve given ourselves the flexibility to do it now. So, it’s fine to keep asking the question because I know we have to prove it, and we will.”
George’s $54.1MM cap hit in 2026/27 isn’t far off Brown’s figure $57.7MM, but the newest Boston forward has a $56.6MM player option for ’27/28, whereas Brown’s super-max contract will pay him guaranteed salaries of $61.7MM in ’27/28 and $65.6MM in ’28/29.
The fact that George’s deal will expire a year earlier could create more trade possibilities for the Celtics next summer, when it will become an expiring contract — based on Stevens’ comments about “building out depth,” he may envision flipping George and draft assets for multiple rotation players down the road. Still, while George’s perceived value has dropped significantly over the past two seasons as he battled knee issues, Stevens made it clear he values what the 36-year-old can do on the court.
“We like Paul,” Stevens said. “Paul’s a really good player. We’re not very far removed from our (playoff) series against Philadelphia and watching Paul be a guy that could carry you for portions of a quarter or a half, but also play a complementary role on both ends of the floor at the highest of levels.”
After word of the Brown deal broke, Stevens was widely criticized for accepting what is widely viewed as a light return for an All-NBA second-teamer. Acknowledging on Monday that he isn’t oblivious to that criticism, the Celtics’ president suggested that time will tell whether the front office made a mistake.
“What we ultimately decided could be right or wrong,” he said, per Chris Mannix of SI.com. “It’s obviously unpopular and most people think it’ll be wrong. We assessed everything. We spent a lot of time on it. We spent a lot of time on the game. We spent a lot of time on our team. We spent a lot of time on what this thing might look like down the road. Spent a lot of time on an alternative and ultimately this is where we landed.”
Contract Details: Wade, Simons, Sharpe, Minott, George, More
The Sixers used nearly their entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception to complete their deals with Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons. Wade’s four-year contract starts at $9MM, while Simons’ two-year deal has a starting salary of $6MM, leaving just $44K remaining on Philadelphia’s mid-level, Hoops Rumors has learned.
That leftover MLE money obviously can’t be used at this point, given that $44K is far below the NBA’s minimum salary. But there’s a chance it could come in handy at the very end of the season if the 76ers want to sign a free agent or convert a two-way player to a contract that covers more than two years. During the season’s final days, the prorated minimum salary will drop below $44K, allowing Philadelphia to use the rest of its MLE.
Wade’s four-year deal, which has a total value of $38.7MM, features a partial guarantee of $1.65MM in the final year, Hoops Rumors has learned. Simons, meanwhile, holds a $6.3MM player option for 2027/28.
Here are a few more contract details of note from around the NBA:
- Day’Ron Sharpe‘s new two-year deal with the Nets will pay him a guaranteed $10MM salary in 2026/27, with a team option worth $10MM for ’27/28, Hoops Rumors has learned. It has a similar structure to Josh Minott‘s new contract with Brooklyn, which is worth $4.5MM in year one with a $4.5MM team option in year two.
- Players who re-sign with their previous team on a one-year contract or a two-year contract that includes a second-year option are typically awarded the right to veto a trade for the coming season, but their team can ask them to waive that right as part of their contract agreement. Sharpe and Minott both gave up their right to veto a trade in 2026/27 when they re-signed with the Nets, as did Magic guard Jevon Carter and Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland, Hoops Rumors has learned.
- Paul George waived his trade bonus when he was dealt from the Sixers to the Celtics, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That means George’s cap hit for 2026/27 remains at $54.13MM instead of increasing to $57.74MM, giving Boston a little extra spending flexibility below its first-apron hard cap.
- The two-way deals for Ugonna Onyenso of the Pistons and Nick Martinelli of the Clippers both cover two seasons, according to reports from Keith Smith of Spotrac and Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter links). Onoyenso and Martinelli were drafted 53rd and 55th overall, respectively.
NBA Executives React to Jaylen Brown Trade
Celtics fans who are waiting for an explanation of the Jaylen Brown trade should get some answers this afternoon when president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and majority owner Bill Chisholm will hold a press conference, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The deal won’t become official until the moratorium ends at 11:00 am Central time, so Stevens and Chisholm have been restricted from making any public comments.
In the meantime, Tim MacMahon of ESPN talked to several executives around the league to get their perspective on the surprising trade, which sent a second-team All-NBA selection to the Sixers in exchange for Paul George‘s pricey contract, along with two future first-round picks and a pair of second-rounders. The consensus is that Boston rushed into a deal after including Brown in an offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo that proved unsuccessful when the Bucks sent him to Miami instead.
“I’m surprised they felt so forced to do it right now — to Philly and for that package!” one general manager told MacMahon. “I’m shocked. I don’t understand it. I can’t figure it out.”
“You can’t make sense of it other than they had to do something. They had to,” a pro personnel scout said. “They couldn’t bring him back. He wore out his welcome there. But it’s a bad move. It looks bad, too. They panicked and made a bad decision.”
Another general manager questioned why the trade market was so depressed for Brown, a five-time All-Star who’s coming off the best statistical season of his career and is still in his prime at age 29. With Jayson Tatum missing most of the season while recovering from an Achilles injury, Brown proved he could handle the primary scoring role, leading the Celtics to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the East.
It seems out of character for Stevens, who twice has been named Executive of the Year, to rush into a deal with so little obvious return. However, as the negotiating process wore on, it became apparent that many teams weren’t willing to pay a premium price for Brown. One rival executive believes Stevens began the process by asking for too much after his Antetokounmpo bid failed, and as a result, “teams got scared away and moved on to other business.”
Brown is undeniably expensive — he’s owed $183MM over the next three years and becomes extension-eligible later this summer. MacMahon also cites concerns over his “unapologetically strong personality, outspokenness and reluctance to adapt his style of play,” which all contributed to Boston’s decision to move on and were noticed around the league.
“If Jaylen isn’t happy winning Finals MVP, All-NBA, winning with the Boston Celtics, how’s it going to be with us?” one president of basketball operations said. “If he’s not happy there, what is he looking for? It scares teams.”
On top of that, Brown isn’t a favorite among the analytics community, which sees his actual value as far less than his top-line statistics indicate. One general manager suggests that Brown has “the widest gap in the league” between his public perception and what a deep analytical study actually reveals, and MacMahon points out that the Celtics had a better net rating with Brown off the court during each of the past four seasons and six of the last eight.
“The credit goes to guys who score, but they’re not always driving team success,” another GM said. “There’s guys like this all over the league — Brandon Ingram, DeMar DeRozan, etc. The difference is he’s not at $40 million [salary] — he’s at $60 million! It’s really hard to tie up that much of your salary cap in one player unless they’re truly generational. And he’s not even close to that. If you super-max Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] or Joker [Nikola Jokic], it makes sense. That’s probably the list. The league is getting smarter now. And here’s the thing: The dumb teams are also the cheap teams, so the Celtics couldn’t take advantage of one of them.”
One of the mysteries surrounding Boston’s offseason is why Stevens wasn’t willing to increase his trade offer to Milwaukee if he knew Brown was going to be moved regardless. Reports have indicated that the Bucks were asking for Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez in addition to Brown and draft picks, but Stevens didn’t want to part with the young, low-cost players.
“If you knew you were going to trade him, why not go all-in for Giannis?” one of the GMs asked. “It was still a hard decision for Milwaukee. If you knew you had to get rid of him and you were in the final two, why not put in a bit more?”
Windhorst’s Latest: Brown Trade, Centers, Salary Cap
The Celtics‘ surprising decision to trade Jaylen Brown to the division rival Sixers for a seemingly light return package has led to a renewed debate about whether the team has leaned too far into using analytics to predict future value, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Boston has been considered one of the most analytically-driven teams in the league in recent years, Windhorst notes, and that approach resulted in a championship two years ago. But some sources Windhorst spoke to observed that you can make the case that the 76ers essentially got Brown for “free,” or at least close to it, since Paul George‘s contract is considered an albatross and presumably would have required significant draft capital to move on its own.
“The league is overrun with strategy,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “Honestly, I’m not sure how many people who work in the league are actually watching the games.”
“Yes, there are more graduate degrees in front offices now, but that’s only part of the picture,” a Western Conference general manager said. “The aprons force you to analyze all of your spending more and put more attention to detail on getting the most out of each salary slot. The owners put that into the rules, and the players accepted it. This is all a choice.”
Here’s more from Windhorst’s latest story for ESPN.com:
- Front offices around the NBA have noted the trend of several centers getting lucrative deals in free agency, such as Jock Landale‘s one-year, $14MM deal with the Hawks and Moritz Wagner‘s two-year, $19MM agreement with the Nets. The Lakers were the biggest spenders on that front, Windhorst writes, as they’re using nearly all of their remaining draft assets — two unprotected first-round picks, two first-round swaps and two second-rounders — to give Walker Kessler a four-year, $130MM contract via sign-and-trade. “There’s several teams who wanted Kessler for a few years, and if it had been a truly open market, other teams might’ve been willing to make a similar [trade] offer,” one NBA personnel director said. “But I’d be worried about doing a big deal with the Ainges [Jazz front office leaders Danny and Austin] just on principle.”
- One Eastern Conference executive told Windhorst he was a fan of the Thunder‘s three-year, $75MM deal to bring back starting center Isaiah Hartenstein. “I haven’t seen it talked about at all, but what the Thunder got Hartenstein for might be one of the deals of summer,” the executive said.
- The salary cap for 2026/27 came in slightly lower than anticipated largely because the Knicks were so dominant in the playoffs, which resulted in fewer games in the Eastern Conference and NBA Finals, sources tell ESPN. But the main reason the cap was “only” up 6.7% rather than the originally expected 10% is because local TV revenue tanked — the company that ran the regional broadcasts for 13 teams is insolvent — and that projects to continue for at least one more season, Windhorst writes. “It’s one of the most significant financial things going on in the league right now,” one team president said. “It’s played at least some role in moving forward with expansion.”
Celtics Trade Jaylen Brown To Sixers For Paul George, Picks
July 6: The trade is official, according to a press release from the Sixers.
Sixers managing partner Josh Harris said in a statement that he’s “incredibly excited” for the team acquire Brown, whom he considers one of the “best two-way players in the league.”
“Jaylen has proven himself as one of the league’s top players year after year,” Gansey added in his own statement. “He is a dynamic play-maker with a versatile skill set that positively impacts the game on both ends of the floor. His wealth of experience, high basketball IQ, poise, and leadership will benefit this franchise for years to come.”
Within the Celtics’ announcement, Stevens said Brown will “rightfully go down as one of the defining players of this era.”
“Like the best Celtics before him, he is a terrific player and has also had a huge impact off the court,” Stevens said. “On a personal level, I am thankful to have had a front row seat to the first 10 years of his illustrious career. I could go on and on, but a few sentences, paragraphs, or even chapters wouldn’t do it justice. His legacy as a Celtic is forever etched in stone.”
Brown received his trade bonus in the deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. It’s worth $1,972,866, spread across three seasons, increasing his cap hit by $657,622 per year. George waived his trade bonus and his cap hit remains unchanged, report ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
July 1: Two Atlantic Division rivals have reached an agreement on a blockbuster trade, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that star wing Jaylen Brown is headed from the Celtics to the Sixers.
In return, Boston will acquire forward Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks from Philadelphia, per Charania. Those draft picks are as follows, sources tell Charania (Twitter link):
- A 2028 first-round pick that could become a “most favorable” swap for the Celtics.
- Note: More details on this pick can be found here.
- The Sixers’ 2031 first-round pick (unprotected).
- Either the Warriors’, Thunder’s, or Bucks’ 2028 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).
- Either the Wizards’, Trail Blazers’, or Suns’ 2030 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).
A five-time All-Star, Brown is coming off arguably the best year of his NBA career. He set career highs in points (28.7), rebounds (6.9), and assists (5.1) per game while leading the Celtics to a 56-26 record even though they were missing Jayson Tatum for most of the season as he recovered from an Achilles tear. Brown earned a spot on the All-NBA second team and finished sixth in MVP voting.
However, shortly after the Celtics’ season ended with a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the 76ers, Brown made waves by referring to it as his “favorite season” of his career, implying that he preferred being the Celtics’ go-to scorer and play-maker over winning a championship (in 2024) as a number two option. Around the same time, former NBA star Tracy McGrady, who has been a mentor and friend to Brown, said on his podcast that the Celtics star had grown frustrated with the team.
Brown reaffirmed his commitment to the Celtics at that time, but the club subsequently spent much of the offseason discussing him in trade talks — first as part of a potential package for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and then in various scenarios with teams around the league. Appearing on ESPN on Wednesday (Twitter video link), Charania says the Celtics were “actively shopping” Brown before reaching an agreement with the 76ers, encouraging teams to get their best offers in.
According to Charania, his understanding is that the 29-year-old never requested a trade out of Boston. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) says that point was reiterated to him as well.
But the Celtics’ actions suggest they strongly felt as if it was time to part ways with the former No. 3 overall pick — it remains to be seen whether that’s because the organization believed it wouldn’t be able to repair its relationship with Brown or if there were other factors motivating president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and his front office.
While George is a nine-time All-Star himself, his stock has dropped since he signed a four-year, maximum-salary contract with Philadelphia as a free agent in 2024. He has appeared in just 78 regular season games since then, missing extensive time over the last two seasons due to knee issues and a 25-game suspension he received for violating the league’s drug policy.
Even when he has been available, George’s production has dropped off from where it was in his prime. The 36-year-old has averaged 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.8 steals in 31.7 minutes per game since becoming a Sixer, posting a .434/.375/.817 shooting line.
George finished the season strong in Philadelphia and spoke about how his lengthy layoff due to that 25-game suspension helped him move past his knee problems. Still, with nearly $111MM left on his contract over the next two years (including a 2027/28 player option), the widespread belief was that it would be difficult for the Sixers to recoup positive value for him on the trade market this summer.
While the 76ers did have to attach a handful of draft picks to George in this deal, the return certainly looks positive, as new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey was able to land a star player who should still have several prime years ahead of him. The move creates a fascinating core in Philadelphia, where Brown will join former MVP Joel Embiid, two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey, and Rookie of the Year finalist VJ Edgecombe.
Brown still has three years and $183MM left on the five-year, super-max extension he signed with the Celtics back in 2023, but he’ll become extension-eligible this offseason and would be able to tack on up to one additional year. It’s unclear if he and the Sixers will pursue an extension or put it off until at least the summer of 2027.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN points out (via Twitter), both Brown and George have trade kickers included in their contracts and will be eligible to receive portions of those bonuses (up to their maximum salaries) unless they waive them.
Atlantic Notes: Gansey, Grimes, Raptors, Nets
The Sixers recently introduced their new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey. Now it’s time for him to start answering some of the difficult questions Philadelphia’s roster situation presents, Tony Jones writes for The Athletic.
The two factors that will complicate Gansey’s ability to put his stamp on the roster are the futures of Paul George and Joel Embiid. Both veterans had moments of high-level play this season, but they also have extremely expensive contracts and lengthy injury histories. Since it’s unlikely the Sixers will be able to find palatable avenues to trade them, it’s imperative that they try to find ways to keep both veteran stars on the floor as much as possible.
The non-taxpayer mid-level exception could be an important tool in Philadelphia’s search for an impact player to help take the team from good to very good, Jones notes. The 76ers also have the 22nd pick in the draft, which Gansey is in a good position to be able to maximize the value of, given his time running the draft in Cleveland, according to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“At 22, you want to get a combination of best player available and fit with our roster,” Gansey said about his approach to the draft.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Sixers will also have to figure out what to do with unrestricted free agent Quentin Grimes, who is coming off an unspectacular second season in Philadelphia. Even after trading away Jared McCain, there’s an argument to be made that Kelly Oubre Jr. should be the incumbent player the team looks to retain, Adam Aaronson writes for the Philly Voice, especially because Grimes could have a wider range of teams interested in him given his age and shooting. Aaronson speculates that the Bulls, Clippers, and Bucks could be suitors for the 26-year-old’s services.
- The Raptors have had to watch two players they traded away come through the East to reach the NBA Finals in consecutive years in OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. The team probably mishandled the Siakam trade in particular, but it seems unlikely that keeping him in Toronto would have worked in the long run anyway, Eric Koreen writes for The Athletic. When it comes to next steps, Koreen says it would behoove the Raptors not to sign any more long-term contracts as the team try to figure out how to improve the roster, which is surprisingly expensive given the lucrative deals that Brandon Ingram, Jakob Poeltl, and Immanuel Quickley received. Toronto shouldn’t be desperate to move Ingram or Quickley, but the front office does need to be careful with how it gives out money moving forward.
- The Nets are only three-and-a-half years removed from the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving experience, but their rebuild in recent years hasn’t quite gone according to plan, due in part to a lack of lottery luck. They will have to figure out how to start building a competitive roster this offseason, since the Rockets own their pick next summer, Yossi Gozlan writes in his offseason preview for The Third Apron (Substack link). They could look to renegotiate and extend Michael Porter Jr., who had a strong first season in Brooklyn. They could also use their stockpile of draft picks and young players to try to move up in the draft from No. 6. Additionally, they’re on the clock when it comes to reserve center Day’Ron Sharpe, who has been productive off the bench for several years.
Sixers Notes: Gansey, Embiid, Nelson, More
After taking over as the club’s new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey acknowledged at his introductory press conference on Monday that the Sixers aren’t a “championship caliber team” at the moment, writes Dan Gelston of The Associated Press.
Gansey didn’t offer many hints at the roster moves he envisions this offseason, telling reporters that he “just got here,” and he was evasive when asked about his plans for oft-injured star Joel Embiid, who still has three years and $188MM left on his maximum-salary contract.
“With him and the roster we have, that’s who we have,” Gansey said. “We’ve got to get those guys on the floor. We’ve got to create an identity. Just get them to play basketball.”
While Philadelphia has been hampered in recent years by the inconsistent availability of Embiid and his fellow maximum-salary star Paul George, Sixers executive Bob Myers pointed out that there’s no reason at this point to believe either player will get a late start to the 2026/27 season.
“The good news is this,” said Myers, who holds the title “president of sports” for the Sixers’ ownership group. “There’s no scheduled surgeries this summer. There’s no injury going into the offseason. In the past, there has been that. This is an opportunity to get better, not to play catch-up for Joel, but to actually get better and build on last year. And with that, the hope’s that he can be on the floor a lot more.”
We have more on the Sixers:
- Gansey referred to having Myers in the organization as a “cheat code” as he prepares to run a front office for the first time, per Gelston. The former Cavaliers executive also said that he was in favor of keeping head coach Nick Nurse on the job and added that keeping Jameer Nelson in the front office as his executive VP of basketball operations was a “bit of a sticking point.”
- Nelson also spoke at Monday’s presser about his new role, as Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. The former NBA point guard said he has received interest in recent years from other teams looking to hire him away from Philadelphia, but he wants to be “part of the solution here” and feels “responsibility to help this organization move forward.” Nelson, a native of nearby Chester, Pennsylvania, expressed gratitude for having gotten this opportunity with his hometown team. “Six years ago, when I started (with the Sixers), I had no idea where this journey would take me,” he said. “Credit to the organization for believing in me … To do it for the home team gives me goosebumps, to be honest with you. I think it’s one of the things that people take for granted: when you can actually help out an organization but, more importantly, do it at home.”
- In a pair of stories for PhillyVoice.com, Adam Aaronson puts together a couple hypothetical trade scenarios that he thinks might work for the Sixers this offseason and considers whether the sacrifices necessary to free up the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception this summer would be worth it.
- In case you missed, the 76ers are the most recent team we looked at in our Offseason Preview series.
Fischer’s Latest: Brown, Pelicans, Murphy, Kyrie, Sixers
The Pelicans have been “mentioned by various league executives” as one of the teams with interest in Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, NBA insider Jake Fischer said in his latest live stream for Bleacher Report (video link).
Fischer’s colleague Marc Stein previously named Atlanta, Houston, and Portland as teams to watch for Brown, though as Fischer points out, there have been no real indications yet that the Celtics will seriously consider the idea of trading the All-NBA second-teamer this offseason.
With Brown’s salary set to rise to $57MM in 2026/27, any Pelicans package for Brown would have to start with at least one of Zion Williamson, Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, or Trey Murphy III for matching purposes. Of those players, the versatile sharpshooter Murphy would almost certainly draw the most interest from the Celtics or other potential trade partners (in multi-team scenarios).
According to Fischer, San Antonio had been one of the teams most interested in Murphy over the past year or two, but the Spurs‘ run to the NBA Finals this spring makes them less likely to do anything drastic with their roster this summer.
Here are a few more highlights from Fischer’s live stream:
- While the Mavericks‘ new front office executives have expressed enthusiasm about seeing Cooper Flagg play alongside a healthy Kyrie Irving, Fischer doesn’t “necessarily believe” that Irving will still be on Dallas’ roster by the start of the 2026/27 season, noting that plenty of teams will inquire on the star point guard in the coming weeks. Irving missed all of ’25/26 while recovering from a torn ACL but should be ready to go for opening night in the fall.
- Although Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe look like the Sixers‘ top long-term building blocks, there’s no reason to believe Joel Embiid or Paul George will be going anywhere at this point, according to Fischer, who suggests that Philadelphia is “almost certain” to bring both players back. Embiid and George would be difficult to move for any real value due to their multiyear, maximum-salary contracts.
- Based on his conversations with sources around the NBA, Fischer wouldn’t be surprised if “most favorable” terms become more common on traded first-round picks, since that’s a way for teams stockpiling draft assets to hedge against the randomness of the new draft lottery format.
Sixers Notes: Myers, Front Office, George, Offseason
When he was originally hired by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the sense was that Bob Myers wouldn’t focus specifically on the Sixers and wouldn’t have a major voice in the team’s basketball operations decisions. Myers’ new position required him to be involved with the company’s other sports holdings, including the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and Crystal Palace F.C. in the Premier League, and seemed to focus more on big-picture business decisions rather than day-to-day basketball moves.
Still, the remarks that he and Sixers managing partner Josh Harris made at last week’s press conference in the wake of Daryl Morey‘s dismissal strongly suggested that Myers’ influence in the 76ers’ basketball operations department is increasing, according to Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required), who got the sense that Morey’s replacement might end up being more of a “figurehead” while Myers takes on more responsibilities. Is that actually the case?
“Josh desperately wants Bob to run the team,” one source told Hayes. “Bob desperately does not want to run the team.”
Hayes adds that a team source disputed the idea that Harris is “desperate” for Myers to run the Sixers’ front office.
Either way, Hayes writes, Myers isn’t working out of Philadelphia and has no plans to do so; he also continues to oversee the progress of Harris Blitzer’s other teams. With that in mind, Hayes argues that it’s imperative for the 76ers to hire a “capable, autonomous” executive rather than one who will have to frequently defer to Myers on day-to-day decisions.
We have more on the Sixers:
- Paul George was limited to 37 regular season appearances in 2025/26 due to injuries and a 25-game suspension, but he’s healthy entering the offseason and is looking forward to taking advantage of that fact by embarking on a “real summer of improving,” writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). “It’s been stagnant the last couple years because of a surgery here or a surgery there,” George said. “… So this summer should be a better summer, in terms of working on my game.”
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) previews the Sixers’ upcoming offseason, considering whether trading Joel Embiid and/or George this offseason is viable and evaluating what new contracts for several of the team’s key free agents might look like. Gozlan has Kelly Oubre Jr. in the range of $9-10MM per year and wonders if Philadelphia might be able to re-sign Andre Drummond on a minimum-salary deal.
- Would it make any sense for the Sixers to trade Tyrese Maxey and build around VJ Edgecombe, with an eye toward contending again with a younger group after the George and Embiid contracts expire? Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice weighs the merits of the idea but ultimately concludes it’s not realistic.