The Trade: New Orleans Pelicans acquire Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics for Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones
This deal comes roughly $15 million short of meeting the salary-matching requirements, as the Pels are only sending out a total of $42 million and taking back Brown’s $57 million salary for 2026-27.
New Orleans could involve a third team willing to take on Jordan Poole’s expiring $34 million and/or combine the salaries of Jordan Hawkins and Kevon Looney ($8 million team option) to make up the difference. The thrust of the exchange is Murphy and Jones for Brown.
In New Orleans, Brown would find significantly lower chances of team success. Zion Williamson is still a big name, and he stayed relatively healthy last year. But he’s in athletic decline, shows no signs of developing a jumper and needs the ball to be effective. This is admittedly a much better result for the Celtics, who get younger, cheaper and deeper on the wing. Murphy, in particular, is an ideal fit in Boston’s three-heavy attack.
That said, Brown would take over control of a young group that has potential if Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears develop in their second seasons.
