Jaylen Brown Is the New NBA's First True Casualty
Why the NBA's Salary Cap Is Tougher Than the NFL's
It’s a new NBA and not everybody likes it. Boston Celtics fans mostly appear to hate what just happened. Jaylen Brown, 2nd-Team All-NBA lead scorer in a 56-win Celtics season, was dealt to the 76ers for a decaying Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks. ESPN gave Boston’s side of the trade a D+, which fits the overall reaction.
I don’t do grades, but my reaction was more, “That makes sense.” I don’t think it’s wonderful for Boston, but they lacked options. Jayson Tatum seems to want Brown gone, and Brown seems to want that too. But what really matters is the money, which used to not matter so much in basketball. How I’d frame the situation: The NFL has a fake salary cap that many think is real and the NBA now has a real salary cap that many still think is fake.
Basketball players are, as a collective, making more money than ever, but that hardened cap has robbed a certain tier of leverage and importance. Fans might dislike what’s happened, but my basketball Ops friends love these changes. They’re sick of rubber-stamped max money for All-Stars. They’re tired of kissing the asses of cosseted sidekicks. They’re invigorated by a league now in its Negotiation Era. So what happened and why did it happen?