The NBA’s freshly released 2026-27 schedule for opening week sent an unmistakable signal about former Celtics star Jaylen Brown. His revenge mission against Boston isn’t must-see TV.
Boston traded Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers back in July, and the league had every chance to showcase his first game back against his old team. Instead, it built opening week around LeBron James.
Jaylen Brown’s Return Gets Buried in the Schedule
The Boston Celtics open the season on the road in Detroit with an unusual time slot of Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 3 p.m. ET, not exactly a high-visibility broadcast window. Brown’s new team visits the defending champion New York Knicks that same night, according to Boston Celtics On SI‘s John Karalis, a longtime Celtics insider.
Karalis argued that the league’s choice of time slots tells a revealing story.
“The Sixers and Knicks are the East’s two contenders, while Boston and Detroit are somewhere behind them,” he wrote.
The league also skipped a chance to pair the two teams on national television that same week, choosing instead to send Philadelphia to face Cleveland, LeBron’s hometown team, while Boston hosts New York on Friday. Christmas Day follows the same script. The Miami Heat and Giannis Antetokounmpo visit Boston at 2:30 p.m., while Philadelphia gets the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron’s former team, in the marquee 5 p.m. slot, Karalis noted.
“The NBA is about money, and they will put whatever matchup on television they think makes the most money,” Karalis wrote. “Jaylen Brown versus the Boston Celtics very obviously does NOT sell, in their opinion.”
But LeBron James does.
Two preseason meetings between Boston and Philadelphia are already on the calendar, but Karalis doesn’t buy that as the full explanation for the snub. The Celtics and Sixers are still guaranteed at least four regular-season meetings, with a fifth possible depending on how the NBA Cup bracket shakes out.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum Still Aren’t Talking
Boston sent Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and four draft picks in July, ending a decade-long partnership with Jayson Tatum that produced a 2024 championship and a Finals MVP for Brown, according to a Boston.com report on the deal. The move came after Boston blew a 3-1 first-round playoff lead to Philadelphia last season, after Tatum was sidelined for most of the season with an Achilles injury.
Brown didn’t hide his frustration with how the exit went down.
“There was a bit of a lack of respect,” Brown said on a Twitch stream shortly after the trade, according to CBS Sports’ trade coverage. “A message was being sent, and that message was received.”
At his introductory press conference in Philadelphia, Brown confirmed the fallout extends beyond the front office.
“We haven’t really spoken,” he said of Tatum, according to an SI.com report. “But on my end, it’s nothing but respect. Besides when he plays the Sixers, I hope he does well.”
Tatum posted a public tribute thanking Brown for their nine years together and everything they built. Brown, for his part, insisted he isn’t fixated on facing his old team.
“It’s just one day at a time,” he said, as quoted by SI.com. “That’s all I got.”
The league just made clear it isn’t counting on anyone else caring about the Brown revenge mission as much as he does.
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