July 2, 2026
The Daryl Morey era really is over, isn’t it?
You know your team has made a terrific trade when your first question after the news comes out is, “What’s the catch?” There had to be a catch. How else to explain the swap of over-the-hill, fragile former superstar guard Paul George to the Boston Celtics for in-his-prime wingman Jaylen Brown, two first-round and two second-round picks.
Of course, the real story is that the two guys new to running our basketball team found a sucker to absorb George’s hideous contract – with $111 million still remaining over the next two years – and got him to hand over a star who is coming off a breakout season and won’t turn 30 until Oct. 24. (George is 36, and a very old 36 at that.)
By pretty much every analysis I have seen or heard, the Sixers didn’t just win the trade with Boston icon Brad Stevens; they fleeced one of the smartest people in the NBA.
OK, what’s the catch?
Is Brown about to become the next A.J. Brown in Philadelphia, a divisive force whose selfishness supersedes his talent? Didn’t Brown just say the favorite season of his career was the most recent one, devoid for the most part of his partner, Jayson Tatum, and ending in a first-round playoff collapse against the Sixers? He did appear to be in just about every trade rumor involving the Celtics in the past few weeks, no. Was his career-high 28.7-point average last season an aberration?
Meanwhile, did Paul George find the Fountain of Youth in the past month? Or maybe the Celtics are so smart, they can see an epic fall by the Sixers that will make those first-rounders in 2028 and 2031 a treasure trove instead of lottery tickets.
Is there something else going on here that we don’t know about?
I don’t care. Paul George and his drama are gone. The only news that could have topped it would have been Joel Embiid heading north with him. Undoing all of the stupid moves by Morey in his six fruitless seasons here is going to take time and money. The new guys, President Bob Myers and GM Mike Gansey, are off to a very good start.
My only hesitation at popping the champagne is that the move does appear to double-down on the commitment to Embiid, who mesmerizes everyone he plays for – until they get to know him better. My bet is the new guys are drooling right now at the notion of Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe in the backcourt, Brown and newly-signed Dean Wade on the wings, with the big man in the middle.
Of course, we know better. Before Thanksgiving, Embiid will be back on the sideline for something, out indefinitely. Maxey and Edgecombe may end up struggling with adjusting to the presence of another big star to feed. What looked so good in July might seem more like a mirage by December.
Well, it’s not December yet, so I plan to savor the best trade the Sixers have made since they were introduced to two dunces, Sam Hinkie and Daryl Morey, who stole a decade of hope from all of us (except the Process morons.)
What’s the catch, you say?
Today, it doesn’t matter. Daryl Morey is gone, and now so is Paul George.
So far, so good.