First Impressions of Jaylen Brown With 76ers After Offseason Blockbuster From Celtics

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By the time it became clear the Celtics would be moving on from Jaylen Brown this past offseason, most fans thought he would be traded into a situation where the five-time All-Star would be a clear-cut No. 1 option for the first time. The opposite became true.

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Brown’s stunning trade to the 76ers in July, which opened the door for Philadelphia to add LeBron James weeks later, put him on a team loaded with star talent and a ton of experience. There were a lot of questions entering 2026-27 about how Brown would fit alongside James, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, and whether he could still make the same kind of impact he did in Boston.

With Brown set to face his former Celtics team for the first time on Tuesday night, he’s now 10 games into his Philadelphia career — and for the most part, he’s been just as valuable to his new team, shutting down concerns over how the 76ers’ stars would share the ball.

Here’s a look at how Brown has played early in his first year with the 76ers.

MORE:Celtics Reportedly Ignored One Request From Jaylen Brown Before Trading Him

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First Impressions of Jaylen Brown With 76ers

Concerns over 76ers ‘mouths to feed’ haven’t stopped Brown

After the 76ers’ huge offseason, trading for Brown and signing James while adding Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons to their bench, the top concern fans, analysts and more had about the team was how it would mesh a collection of All-Stars together — especially when it became apparent in Boston that Brown wanted to be treated as a No. 1 star.

Through 10 games, Philadelphia has quieted those concerns, and Brown is a major reason why.

With the 76ers sitting at 9-2 entering their first game against the Celtics, they’ve immediately become one of the NBA’s best teams, proving they can beat opponents in a variety of ways. And Brown has consistently found ways to get involved, whether on or off the ball.

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He dropped a season-high 30 points against the Pistons on Nov. 4 in a 76ers win, but even on nights like Philadelphia’s season-opener against the Knicks, he’s contributed to winning by making an all-around impact and remaining efficient. In that win over New York, Brown had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists on 7-of-14 shooting.

There hasn’t been any signs of selfishness from Brown or the 76ers so far this season. While Tyrese Maxey has emerged as the clear No. 1 scorer for Philadelphia, Brown has been willing to defer when needed, but also take the reins of the offense in spurts.

Playing more minutes, but in a more limited role

Brown is averaging 35.8 minutes per game, which would be his most in a season since 2022-23 (35.9). Even last season, when Tatum was sidelined until March with his Achilles injury, Brown averaged 34.4 minutes per game.

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Nick Nurse is known to lean heavily on his starters, and Brown has been no exception. Considering the 76ers’ talent, it comes as no surprise that compared to 2025-26 with the Celtics, Brown is experiencing dips in points per game (28.7 to 22.3), rebounds per game (6.9 to 6.7) and assists per game (5.1 to 4.0) despite playing more minutes.

Last year in Boston, Brown was being asked to create offense nearly every time he came down the floor. This year in Philadelphia, there are possessions where he doesn’t even touch the ball. It’s a drastically different situation for Brown, but he’s still found ways to make his impact while playing more often, also taking better care of the basketball.

Defensive impact has been real

One of the other narratives surrounding Brown’s exit from Boston was that he was not a valuable defender, and that most advanced analytics suggested he wasn’t as good on that end of the floor as one may think.

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Per FantasyLabs, the 2025-26 Celtics had a 113.64 defensive rating when Brown was on the floor, compared to a 111.7 defensive rating as a team for the season. Individually, Brown had a net rating of 6.88, which put him behind players like Derrick White, Tatum, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard.

Numbers like those led to talks over whether Brown was as valuable — especially defensively — as it looks on the surface. But in Philadelphia so far, he’s been a real defensive asset for one of the league’s best units.

The 76ers have outscored opponents by 4.8 points per 100 possessions with Brown on the floor and have gotten outscored by 1.9 per 100 with him off, for a plus-6.7 on/off split, which would be the second-best mark of Brown’s career, trailing only 2017-18. Brown hasn’t had a positive on/off split since the 2021-22 season, per Cleaning the Glass.

Brown has visibly been committing some added energy to the defensive side of the floor, and that’s helped the 76ers’ defense become a pleasant surprise with an eighth-ranked 107.9 defensive rating.

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Brown, averaging 1.2 steals per game, has remained an elite transition player, and he’s had a few defensive highlights, such as a game-sealing block of Cade Cunningham against the Pistons.

Brown will be only become more valuable to 76ers as regular season continues

On a team with a 41-year-old James and an often-injured Embiid, once the 76ers’ schedule fully settles in and depth begins to be tested, Brown will likely only bring a more valuable presence.

Throughout his career, Brown has been one of the most durable players in the NBA, especially from a total minutes perspective. He can play a lot without getting tired or hurt, and at a high level.

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When back-to-backs arrive this season, Philadelphia can rest James, Embiid or both and rest assured that Brown, Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe are talented enough to compete for a win. It’s a star depth luxury that most teams do not have in the NBA.

Already this season, James has sat two games, while Embiid has also missed two. Those games without the veteran stars are when you’ll likely see Brown put up larger point totals.

Win-win trade?

Of course, things are going just as well for the Celtics entering Tuesday night’s rivalry showdown.

Paul George, the star sent back to Boston in the Brown trade, has looked resurgent at age 36, averaging 20.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game as a perfect fit in Joe Mazzulla’s system. George has proven capable of scoring on and off the ball, one of the league’s best catch-and-shoot players; he’s averaging 3.4 3-pointers made per game, his most since 2018-19.

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Boston enters Tuesday’s game at 8-2 with the NBA’s No. 3 defensive rating (104.3) and Tatum averaging 27.1 points per game. There’s a case to be made that the Celtics would be a worse team right now had they not moved Brown for George this past offseason, especially defensively.

But based on the results of the early 2026-27 season, both teams should be happy with how the trade is working out. Boston and Philadelphia may just be the two best squads in the Eastern Conference this season — and while the trade will primarily be judged by playoff results, the Celtics and 76ers are both getting the ideal versions of the star wing they acquired.

MORE:How Paul George, Jaylen Brown Have Performed Since Trade

Jaylen Brown 76ers Stats

Here’s a full look at Brown’s numbers with Philadelphia so far:

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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com