Philadelphia 76ers guard Jaylen Brown will face the Boston Celtics for the first time since his offseason trade on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock.
Brown, a five-time All-Star and 2026 Finals MVP, averaged 28.7 points per game last season — his career high. According to Cleaning the Glass data — which excludes garbage time — the Celtics posted a better net rating with Brown off the court than on it in seven of his 10 seasons in Boston, including each of the past four.
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The Celtics traded Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and multiple draft picks. George has recorded positive on/off splits in every NBA season across Indiana, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Brown’s offensive efficiency lagged for a high-usage player, and he recorded more turnovers than assists.
NBA front offices increasingly rely on regularized adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) models to isolate player impact. These adjust for teammate and opponent identity, home-court advantage, foul situation, opponent shooting variance and other contextual factors. An Eastern Conference analyst told ESPN that 10,000 possessions — about two full seasons for a starter — is the minimum sample size before on/off data begins to show usefulness.
The Celtics have built their roster with players who consistently rate well in adjusted on/off metrics. They acquired Derrick White. Alex Caruso’s teams have outperformed with him on the floor in all nine of his NBA seasons, across three franchises and two championships. Isaiah Hartenstein also ranks highly in publicly available RAPM-style models.
Public RAPM-style metrics generally rank Brown as very good but not MVP-caliber. That gap between reputation and contextual impact contributed to Boston’s willingness to trade him. Kostya Medvedovsky, creator of the DARKO projection system, said the Brown case illustrates how widely adjusted on/off analysis has been adopted across the league.
No rival team offered more than Philadelphia’s package for Brown. Brown, 30, is in his 11th NBA season. He was selected third overall by Boston in the 2016 NBA Draft.
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