Philadelphia 76ers

There was not a single person in all of the NBA or even the Philadelphia 76ers fan base that could have predicted their 2026-27 offseason. One move was the catalyst that set off the dominoes, like landing LeBron James. It was none other than Mike Gansey trading for Jaylen Brown. How did the president end up getting the Boston Celtics’ star with Brad Stevens? Gansey finally answered.

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How Gansey-led 76ers landed Brown from the Celtics

For those who do not remember, the 76ers acquired Jaylen Brown from the Celtics. Mike Gansey offered two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and Paul George to get their historic division nemesis’ star.

Everything made sense: the Celtics were trying to fix their salary cap woes and build around Jayson Tatum, Brown needed a supermax deal, and the 76ers pushed hard to go win-now. But none of these would have happened if not for Gansey. The 76ers executive, along with Nick Nurse and Co., were relentless in their pursuit of the ex-Celtics star, via Tony Jones of The Athletic.

«The process in talking to Boston about Jaylen took a couple of weeks. 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 76ers president declared.

See, the Celtics did not aim to settle for the George-Brown trade from the start. It was made apparent that Giannis Antetokounmpo was the star that Stevens was gunning for. Eventually, the Milwaukee Bucks dealt the Greek Freak to the Miami Heat for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, and a bag of picks that spanned all the way to the 2033 NBA Draft.

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When trade talks between the Bucks and Celtics died down, the 76ers swooped in. In fact, they were banging the drum even louder so that their division rivals would listen. As all things settled, Gansey and Co. got their wish.

«There were some trades that we’ve done that were two years in the making, simply because we kept calling. 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,» Gansey added.

Brown will now have a chance to compete for a second title after two seasons of being removed from being the NBA Finals MVP. Moreover, the 76ers are getting huge numbers from their new star if he retains his 34.4 minutes-per-game average from the 2025-26 season. (Numbers are derived from Per 36 Projections from Basketball Reference, figures in bold indicate an uptick from previous year)

Gansey had an insane offseason that propelled the 76ers from meme-d and expected first-round exits to title contenders. It all started because they relentlessly pursued Brown from Stevens and the Celtics even before the Antetokounmpo trade news broke.

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More 76ers News: 

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• 76ers executive departs team for WNBA Front Office role