Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm are set to face questions at 4 p.m. Monday after the Paul George Celtics trade statement turned attention to Boston’s draft haul. The Celtics are expected to receive two first-round picks and two second-round picks from the 76ers in the Brown trade, but one 2028 path could leave Boston with nothing from Philadelphia.
That 2028 first-round pick is the centerpiece. It can become a lottery choice, and the outcome depends on how the 76ers’ pick, the Clippers’ pick and the Spurs’ swap rights line up.
Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm
Transactions cannot be completed until the league-wide moratorium lifts Monday afternoon, so the scheduled press conference comes first. Stevens and Chisholm are due to address the Brown trade and Boston’s recent signings at 4 p.m. Monday, giving Boston a public checkpoint on a deal that could shape its future pick stockpile.
The mechanics are more layered than a simple swap. If the 76ers’ pick falls in the top eight, or the Clippers’ pick that Philadelphia previously acquired is in the top 16, Boston gets the right to swap its first-round pick with the best option among those choices. If the 76ers’ pick is outside the top eight and the Clippers’ pick is outside the top 16, the Celtics get the Clippers’ pick and keep their own.
The Brown trade
The Spurs add another layer through the 2022 Derrick White trade, which gives them the right to swap their first-round pick with the Celtics’ pick. That is the narrow path that makes the Boston return less straightforward than the raw list of picks suggests.
If the 76ers’ pick lands outside the top eight, the Clippers’ pick lands in the top 16, and the Celtics’ and Spurs’ first-round picks are both better than the Clippers’ pick, Boston gets nothing from Philadelphia that year. That is the rare outcome buried inside the Brown trade math, and it is the part Monday’s briefing is likely to draw the sharpest questions about.
Robert Parish on SiriusXM
Robert Parish added a separate layer of friction this week on his SiriusXM radio show. He said he was not a fan of the Brown trade, even though he said he understood why the Celtics might have viewed it as the right decision.
Parish also said Red Auerbach would not have been thrilled about trading away a superstar in his prime. He said, “I think this would have made him nauseated,” and “He may have thrown up about this move.” Parish said Brown should eventually have his No. 7 raised to the rafters of TD Garden.
