Charles Barkley Reveals Blunt Reaction to Celtics Trading Jaylen Brown

Include NBA legend Charles Barkley among those who were absolutely stunned and bewildered by the Boston Celtics trading Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.

ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news last week that the Celtics were sending the five-time All-Star to their division rivals. In exchange, Boston received nine-time All-Star Paul George and future first and second-round draft picks.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be a true story.’ This is some, you know there’s so much fake stuff on the internet now, I’m like, ‘No they didn’t trade him to the Sixers,'” Barkley shared on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

“Number one, you’re like, ‘Wow.’ Number two, you’re like, ‘Well what they give up?’ They gave up Paul George and some draft picks. I said, ‘Man, the Sixers just got away with murder, man.'” he said.

Barkley said the 76ers “were dead in the water” due to George’s contract and Joel Embiid’s “inability to stay healthy,” but now they’ve become “legit contenders.” Like many other people, he said he wasn’t sure what the Celtics were doing with this trade.

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Along with that, Barkley called out the Celtics for trading away their former NBA Finals MVP to a team they will play multiple times each season and “probably during the playoffs.” He said he believes this will drive Brown to play even harder now for his new team.

“If this doesn’t drive Jaylen Brown, then you’re not a competitor,” Barkley claimed. “This would piss me off so bad.”

Brown has shared his thoughts after the trade happened, indicating that trade talks went “left” and he felt “disrespected” by the Celtics’ front office. Despite calling it “weird” to now be playing for a former rival team, he said he’s excited about the opportunity to earn respect in the city of Philadelphia.

The trade certainly caught a lot of people off guard, mostly due to the caliber of player Brown is at 29 years old, compared to George, 36, being at a different point in his career. Brown led the Celtics to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference in a season where fellow All-Star Jayson Tatum played in only 16 regular-season games due to recovering from his torn Achilles injury.

Last season’s averages included 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and a 47.7% field goal percentage for the Celtics. By comparison, George averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and shot 43.9% from the field for the 76ers.

Charles Barkley, who began his NBA journey as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, was part of two big trades in his career: from the 76ers to the Phoenix Suns in 1992, and then from the Suns to the Houston Rockets in 1996. Both times, the team that traded Barkley received multiple players from the other team.

Following his trade to the Suns, the basketball superstar won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, so quite possibly Brown could be motivated and follow in Barkley’s footsteps to earn the award with his new team.

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This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 8:27 PM.