Move past the unseasoned beef between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown during Tuesday’s Celtics-Sixers game and instead look for the real juice: a killer performance from Paul George, the player Brown was traded for. While a single regular season game in November is by no means helpful in evaluating a trade in its entirety, the contrast last night between these two wings was telling: Brown (excited, foul-prone, poor decision-making) missed much of a game where George (methodical, efficient, comfortable in the offensive flow) flourished. Boston won 123-101. More than anything, George’s 36-point outing was a reminder of his strangely elegant and timeless style that could have connected with every NBA team built over the past decade, and how he distills Joe Mazzulla’s Celtics team down to its spiritual essence.
Fair-minded people were skeptical that a star version of George would return. In two years in Philadelphia, he seemed to have disappeared into a haze of lower-body injuries, mystery drug use and inconsistent podcasts, playing in just 78 games total in the regular season. Meanwhile, Brown was coming off a work campaign for the Celtics, logging 71 games while absorbing 36 percent usage en route to an All-NBA second team. Despite all the concerns about Brown’s true value, both in a vacuum and within the Celtics’ system, he was clearly the most valuable player at the time of the trade. By trading two seemingly expensive contracts for each other, each asking between 32 and 35 percent of the salary cap for a wing who likely wouldn’t live up to that price tag, it was the Sixers who had to sweeten the deal with draft picks.
Now in 2026, with the massive health issue, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that George could be a more valuable player than Brown for the remainder of his contract. The 36-year-old looked both incredible and incredibly well adjusted to his new surroundings. When he wasn’t getting into the three (6 of 11 last night) or taking advantage of the inordinate attention on Tatum, George was posting mismatched defenders, playing in the surprising amount of studio space afforded him by Boston’s scheme. This team has established a clear identity over the past three years: stubbornly decentralized, wiped out and spaced out, the Mazzulla Celtics gain incremental advantages by taking drive-and-kicks, finding the open shooter and maintaining their belief that 3>2.
Led by Tatum, these Celtics did not have the ball dynamism of some of their competitors, but compensated (above all) with a level of collective skill and clarity of the game plan. Paul George gives them a faithful cog in this machine, plus a surplus of talent that they never had with such a cog, enough to improvise a little while respecting the overall superstructure. If George is a superstar talent developed in the form of a 3-D role player, then he seems to have found his team-level analogue in Mazzulla-ball. He will be able to increase or decrease his role depending on the needs of a given night, thriving on or off the ball. His defense seems up to par again and he can switch and shoot the passing lanes. Some nights, he dribbles no more than 20 times and still establishes himself as the best player on the pitch. Through 10 games this season, he averaged 22 points on a career-best 63% true shooting rate.
Of course, George will always be evaluated based on the player he replaced, and the differences between the two will always be fresh in mind. Brown could handle more ball usage for a team that at times sorely needed it, heading headlong into the paint to drive the middle of the attack, but George gives the Celtics better spacing and off-ball defense, bringing the entire team into clearer alignment with Mazzulla’s vision. Maybe George will collapse; he hasn’t had a good healthy season since 2023-24. It may turn out that Brown’s freak traits were essential to this team, especially in the playoffs. But maybe all Mazzulla wanted was another good soldier, 6-foot-8, switchable and too fluid.
Gn sports
