How 76ers ‘banged Celtics drum' over and over to get Jaylen Brown trade done

The Philadelphia 76ers landed Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics this offseason through a strategy built around persistence, repeatedly expressing interest even when their chances of acquiring the All-NBA forward appeared slim. The Athletic's Tony Jones detailed how 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey and general manager Jameer Nelson approached the trade market, adopting a philosophy of calling every team and consistently checking on potential targets. Gansey said that mentality developed during his time as Cleveland Cavaliers general manager, when owner Dan Gilbert regularly pushed the front office to explore every possible opportunity. 'There were some trades that we've done that were two years in the making, simply because we kept calling,' Gansey told The Athletic. 'We kept checking in, and in the end we came away with that person. It didn't always work, but we always wanted to make sure we did the work.' That persistence eventually put Philadelphia in position to acquire Brown. According to Jones, the Sixers understood they were not among Boston's preferred trade partners. The Celtics initially explored using Brown in a potential pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, while Philadelphia continued contacting Boston despite appearing to have little chance of completing a deal. The situation changed when the Miami Heat won the race for Antetokounmpo. With Brown's name already publicly involved in trade discussions, league sources told The Athletic that Boston had reached a point where it almost had to move him. Philadelphia still considered itself a long shot. Trading an All-NBA-caliber player to a division rival carried obvious complications for the Celtics, and conventional wisdom suggested Boston would prefer sending Brown to the Western Conference. However, Brown's market softened while the Sixers remained engaged. Once Philadelphia realized a deal was within reach, the organization refused to let the Los Angeles Clippers' 2028 first-round pick prevent it from completing the blockbuster. 'The process in talking to Boston about Jaylen took a couple of weeks,' Gansey said. 'We let them know we were interested and then just kind of went from there. We just kind of stayed in the mix, and the next thing you know, we were at the five-yard line … We just kept banging the drum and expressing interest.' The persistence paid off, giving Philadelphia one of the offseason's biggest additions. Brown's arrival became even more significant when the Sixers later signed LeBron James, pairing the former Celtics star with James as Philadelphia reshaped its roster around a championship push. This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.