Sports
Why the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Trade to the 76ers Still Doesn’t Make Sense
Boston Celtics fans have been scratching their heads and looking for answers since the team traded Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers earlier this month. In exchange, Boston received Paul George, two first-round draft picks and two second-round picks.
Brown, 29, was selected to five All-Star teams during his 10 years in Boston and earned two All-NBA selections. He was also selected as the 2024 NBA Finals MVP after he helped Boston defeat Dallas in five games.
George, 36, is a nine-time All-Star who remains an excellent shooter from beyond the 3-point arc, but has had difficulty staying on the court in recent years. He has missed at least half of the last two regular-seasons due to injuries and a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.
When Celtics majority owner Bill Chisholm and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens addressed the media regarding the trade, the press conference provided more questions than answers. Questions like these:
Why did the Celtics feel the need to trade Brown?
Stevens said having Brown and Jayson Tatum on the roster would eat up 70 percent of the team’s salary cap, and that wasn’t a formula that could produce an NBA championship under the new collective bargaining agreement. Brown and Tatum accounted for 47 percent of the salary cap when the Celtics won the championship in 2024.
It’s worth noting that George’s $54.1 million salary is comparable to what Brown makes. George has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract followed by a $56.6 million player option.
Brown is entering the third year of a five-year deal. Since the Celtics will likely be in a bad financial spot for the next two years anyway, Boston may have been better off biting the financial bullet for an extra year and keeping Brown until his contract expired.
Did ownership or possibly Tatum make it clear that they wanted Brown off the roster?
Chisholm said there was no mandate from ownership to trade Brown, and Stevens insists Tatum had no input in the decision to move Brown either.
“I have a real hard and fast rule,” Stevens said. “I don’t ask other guys about other guys because it’s not — I won’t put them in that position. So, he had none.”
Still, with the underwhelming package the Celtics received for Brown, it’s hard to believe there weren’t some behind-the-scenes forces at work that made Stevens a little more eager to pull the trigger on a deal.
Why make the trade with Philadelphia, a team the Celtics share space with in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division?
The Celtics playing nice with the 76ers is like the Red Sox sending a top player to the Yankees which is difficult to envision under any circumstance. This part of the trade was also puzzling, especially since Philadelphia overcame a 3-1 series deficit and eliminated the Celtics in the first round last season. The trade handed the 76ers one of the best players in the NBA.
There are reports that Brown was picky about which teams he would play for, so that could have narrowed the market. If only the Celtics had shown some patience a better deal may have materialized – one that didn’t involve a team in Boston’s division. It’s unlikely the 76ers were going to pull their offer off the table.
Even if you don’t believe the Celtics were fleeced in the deal, Boston had a better chance to win a championship in the next few years with Brown than without him.
There’s no question about that.
Sports
Yoshinobu Yamamoto bids to give Dodgers length vs. D-backs
Jul 4, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) reacts in the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Dodgers know they can count on Yoshinobu Yamamoto to throw a lot of innings, and that trait is of extra importance entering Saturday’s game against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers used seven pitchers Friday after Shohei Ohtani (left knee) was scratched from his start, so the bullpen is a bit beleaguered entering the middle contest of a three-game series. Arizona took advantage with an easy 9-3 victory in the opener.
Yamamoto (9-5, 2.49 ERA) will look to restore order. The right-hander has put together quality starts in 13 of 16 outings this season.
“The good thing is we’ve got Yamamoto going (Saturday), so we feel good about him taking on a lot of the game,” Roberts said Friday before the implosion of the bullpen game.
The 27-year-old Yamamoto has Tuesday’s All-Star Game on the horizon, and his availability to pitch in that contest may depend on how taxed he is Saturday.
Yamamoto has tossed seven or more innings on seven occasions, topped by 8 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on June 13. In that contest, Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the ninth before Tristan Peters led off the frame with a homer.
In his last outing, Yamamoto matched his season best of 10 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres. He gave up three hits and two walks over seven innings.
Yamamoto has won six of his past seven starts.
Yamamoto’s first start of the season came against the Diamondbacks on March 26. He gave up two runs and five hits over six innings of an 8-2 victory.
Yamamoto has excelled against Arizona, going 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA in seven career starts.
Corbin Carroll (2-for-20, six strikeouts) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1-for-11) have struggled against Yamamoto. Geraldo Perdomo (4-for-13), Ketel Marte (5-for-18) and Gabriel Moreno (2-for-12) each have homered against Yamamoto.
Tim Tawa, who is 1-for-3 against Yamamoto, was the Diamondbacks’ lead man in Friday’s assault.
Tawa went 3-for-4 with a homer and matched his career high of four RBIs.
“It felt good. We scored early, which was nice,” Tawa said. “Then we got punched in the mouth a little bit but we were able to respond and did a good job.”
Gabriel Moreno added two hits and two RBIs as Arizona won its second straight game.
While Ohtani couldn’t answer the bell as a pitcher, he did serve as the designated hitter and he’s scheduled to do so again Saturday. He also withdrew from Tuesday’s All-Star game and is slated to undergo an injection next week.
“If affects more of my pitching than the hitting side of the game, that’s the reason why,” Ohtani said through an interpreter on why he can still DH.
Ohtani’s power was in full display when he led off the game with an opposite-field homer to left.
The leadoff blast was Ohtani’s 32nd of his career and 26th with the Dodgers. He trails Mookie Betts (32) and former star Davey Lopes (28) on the franchise’s all-time list.
Andy Pages had three hits and homered right after Ohtani, but Los Angeles lost for the fifth time in its past 17 games.
Arizona will start right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.84) on Saturday.
Pfaadt, 27, is back in the rotation and has won consecutive starts against the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.
He gave up one run and three hits over 5 1/3 innings against the Giants on June 30 and blanked the Padres on four hits over five innings on Monday.
Pfaadt gave up two runs and three hits in an inning of relief against the Dodgers on June 3.
Pfaadt is 4-2 with a 5.32 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against Los Angeles.
Betts (10-for-24, two homers) and Freddie Freeman (8-for-24, one homer) have fared well against Pfaadt.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Germany, Jurgen Klopp agree to contract
Apr 22, 2026; Morristown, New Jersey, USA; Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull GmbH, Jurgen Klopp, speaks onstage during an event for the opening of the RWJBarnabas Health Red Bulls Performance Center. The complex has been selected as Brazil’s training home for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Jurgen Klopp and the German Football Association are in agreement on a deal that will make him the head coach of the German men’s national team, The Athletic reported Saturday.
All that remains is to reach an agreement with Red Bull — where Klopp has been the head of global soccer since January 2025 — on his exit.
Once official, he will replace Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned following Germany’s exit from the World Cup in the round of 32.
The German team is getting an experienced leader.
Klopp, 59, formerly was the head coach of Liverpool (2015-24) and Borussia Dortmund (2008-15). He was named the FIFA Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2020.
Klopp intends to bring with him Pep Lijnders, who was an assistant coach at Liverpool under Klopp.
The coaching duo is expected to debut with Germany in a Nations League match in Amsterdam against the Netherlands on Sept. 24.
They led Liverpool to their maiden Premier League title in the 2019-20.
Germany, the four-time World Cup champions, were eliminated by Paraguay on Monday in a penalty shootout in the round of 32.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Hanwha Life outlast LYON, gain finals berth in Mid-Season Invitational
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Hanwha Life rallied to a 3-2 win over LYON on Saturday to advance to the grand final in the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational in Daejeon, South Korea.
Hanwha Life will square off against Bilibili Gaming in the grand final, with the winner receiving $500,000 and qualifying for this fall’s 2026 World Championship. All matches are best-of-five.
Bilibili Gaming posted a 3-1 win over Hanwha Life on Thursday in the upper-bracket final.
Hanwha Life bounced back from that loss by winning the first game on Saturday. LYON responded by capturing the next two contests before Hanwha Life won the final two to set up the rematch with Bilibili Gaming in the grand final.
2026 Mid-Season Invitational prize pool:
1. $500,000
2. $300,000
3. $240,000 — LYON
4. $200,000 — G2 Esports
5-6. $160,000 — T1, Secret Whales
7-8. $110,000 — FURIA, Top Esports
9. $90,000 — Team Liquid
10. $70,000 — Karmine Corp.
11. $60,000 — Deep Cross Gaming
–Field Level Media
Yoshinobu Yamamoto bids to give Dodgers length vs. D-backs
Report: Germany, Jurgen Klopp agree to contract
