liveUpdated 17s agoAfter the 76ers and Celtics agreed to a stunning trade, Jaylen Brown spoke out about his former team's conduct this summer. The Athletic NBA StaffJuly 3, 2026 at 8:00 AM EDT Maddie Meyer / Getty ImagesAnother way the analytics conversation sells Brown short Maddie Meyer / Getty ImagesA huge miss by almost the entire analytics discussion I’ve seen around Jaylen Brown is that several of those stats have been out of the context of his role. From what I've heard, NBA teams do, in fact, have some deeper-impact analytics that make Brown out to be worse than his reputation. But even those stats don't consider what his role actually has been. Brown and Jayson Tatum are different types of wings who have long complemented each other well. Brown is a dangerous dribble penetrator and point of attack defender who improved as a playmaker last season, while a healthy Tatum has been a high-level playmaker, outside-in scorer, a great help defender and a good point of attack stopper. Yes, Tatum’s strengths allowed Brown to thrive at what he does best and limit the exposure of his weak points, but that went both ways. Brown was the hyper-aggressive tone-setter, and his intensity was necessary to allow Tatum to be more laid back. While Brown made more mistakes as a help defender, he also is one of the few two-way stars in the league who can press full court all night in the playoffs and defend with elite physicality across the board. Tatum is a great help defender but he can't guard the ball like Brown can.So all of these comparisons of Brown to other MVP candidates miss the fact that Brown played in a way that was meant to operate in tandem with Tatum. It's fair for the Celtics to not want to give Brown a $75-million-a-year extension as he gets to his mid 30s, or even to believe they should shift course now. But the conversation around Brown's metrics — and most analytics in general — misses the fact that not every player has to be complete and well-rounded for their team to win. There is a pretty clear track record that Brown and Tatum together worked, and anyone who actually watched closely over the years could see that.Are the Lakers contenders now?Walker Kessler. Quentin Grimes. Sandro Mamukelashvili. Collin Sexton.The Lakers have made a cluster of moves in free agency. Have they improved around Luka Dončić?Kuminga isn't what Lakers need Kevin C. Cox / Getty ImagesI realize the pickings are getting slim, and the Lakers need to sign a real 4 at some point. But I just don't understand what Jonathan Kuminga — who is receiving "significant consideration" as a free-agent signing, according to our Dan Woike — would do for them. The Lakers need shooters and plus defenders to put around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, not 1-on-1 scorers who need the ball to be effective.Jaylen Brown left a legacy in the Boston community Getty ImagesA consistent theme from Jaylen Brown's Twitch comments tonight was his connection to the city of Boston. It wasn’t just superficial. There are few players in the NBA who have invested so deeply into socioeconomic change in the way he has. He has gone way beyond giving money, or even time. He took on the mission of evolving Boston and making it a more equitable place for minorities. So much of what he did in his adopted home served a bigger purpose. You could see it in how much time he dedicated to talking with kids when he put events together, or how he held meetings quietly behind closed doors with people in positions of power to advocate for policy change. Look at what he did with signing his contract extension at his Bridge program, or his sneaker unveiling at the Museum of Science that featured a panel on science education with Bill Nye. The Celtics trading Brown has a much bigger effect on the city of Boston than just losing a beloved Celtic player. I’ve been back in Boston this week, and so many of the people I know in the political and creative space are devastated by this trade because they valued Brown as much as a leader in the community as they did an athlete. And that’s why the character assassination stuff he called out on his stream was so prescient. I’ve seen him constantly put himself in rooms where it was clear his intent was to grow and to share, not to be the smartest person there. I remember when he spoke on the education system at MIT when he first got to Boston, struggled to get his presentation out cleanly, then kept improving and growing as a thought leader from there. From the beginning, he put himself out there trying to implement change in the community. He built a legacy few athletes have. It’s honestly the first thing I think of when I think about his time in Boston.Jaylen Brown says Celtics showed him ‘a lack of respect’ before trade to 76ers Jaylen Brown just wants to know what it was that got him traded after he just finished the best season of his career and carried the Boston Celtics to a 56-win season without co-star Jayson Tatum for much of the year.