David Murphy: The Sixers just turned Paul George into Jaylen Brown and transformed themselves for an unbelievable price

PHILADELPHIA — Well, aren’t we all a bunch of idiots?

So much for the two timelines thing.

And for the long, arduous process of building a contender piece by piece.

So much for all of the hand-wringing about Kelly Oubre Jr., and Quentin Grimes and LaBaron Philon Jr.

And about Mike Gansey, for that matter.

The Philadelphia 76ers did the unthinkable on Wednesday. They did it to such an extent that it still isn’t thinkable. In fact, it’s barely believable.

Not only did the Sixers come from out of nowhere to stun the NBA by acquiring Boston Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown, and not only did they do it for a criminally cheap price, they also somehow managed to ship out the remaining two years and $120 million remaining on Paul George’s contract.

And, just like that, a new window of title contention has arrived.

That’s the most important takeaway for Sixers fans. Brown is a player who transforms the Sixers’ in both the short and long term. A 2024 NBA Finals MVP and a sixth-place finisher in regular season voting this year, the longtime Celtics wing is basically the exact player you would create in a lab if you were dreaming up the prefect star to maximize a team with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the backcourt. He has the size, versatility and defensive chops to help make up for however much of that they give away at the guard position. He is a straight-line player who can get to the rim through traffic with or without the ball in his hands. He is an adequate and willing 3-point shooter who showed signs of being much more than that earlier in his career. He can alternate seamlessly between primary and secondary scoring roles. Basically, he is the exact player the Sixers would have been crossing their fingers to have a chance to draft at some point in order to make the Maxey-Edgecombe pairing a legitimate contender.

Even if only half of that was true, the Sixers would have still been justified in making this deal. The unprocessable thing about this deal is the mind-bogglingly low price that Gansey somehow managed to finagle from a Celtics team that doesn’t make many bad decisions.

Consider a deal that the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz struck earlier in the day on Wednesday. In exchange for the right to sign restricted free agent Walker Kessler, a zero-time All-Star who played just five games last season before undergoing shoulder surgery, the Lakers agreed to pay:

— A 2031 unprotected first round pick.

— A 2033 unprotected first round pick.

— Two first round pick swaps.

That’s what the Lakers gave up for the right to sign Kessler to a four-year, $130 million deal.

Here is what the Sixers will reportedly give up to acquire Brown:

— A 2031 unprotected first round pick.

— An additional first round pick, TBD (initial reports suggest it will either be the Los Angeles Clippers’ unprotected 2028 first rounder or the Sixers’ 2028 first rounder, whichever is more favorable).

— Two second round picks, one in 2028 and the other in 2030

(It’s worth noting that the Kessler deal was struck by former Celtics president Danny Ainge, who once upon a time acquired Brown and Jayson Tatum while fleecing teams in the process.)

But the real coup de grace is the inclusion of George, whose contract many believed was under water to the point that the Sixers would’ve needed to attach a first-round pick just for some other team to take it onto their books. Maybe that was errant thinking about the rest of the league’s willingness to spend $120 million over two years on a 36-year-old who has played in 78 games over the last two regular seasons and has played in more than 56 games just once since 2019. Whatever the case, the Sixers should be thrilled.

George is a tidy anchor for such a mind-blowing deal. The Sixers basically traded him for a much better player and much better fit who is six-and-a-half years younger and is making $2 million less over the next two seasons. The cost for the move was less than what the Toronto Raptors traded for 35-year-old Kawhi Leonard (Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, two unprotected first, a pick swap and change), who is in the last year of his contract and will be able to walk away if the Raptors don’t give him a huge contract extension into his late 30’s.

Even if the Celtics and the rest of the NBA knows or suspects something that the Sixers don’t, even if the trade doesn’t prove to be a gamechanger, it still doesn’t leave them a whole heck of a lot worse off than they would’ve been over the next couple of years with George.

Heading into the offseason, it sure looked like the Sixers would need to be in a mode of making the best of things and preparing for the day when George would move on and free up some payroll maneuverability. Instead, they’ve vaulted themselves into the realm of top-end contenders for the next three seasons.

On Wednesday evening, FanDuel had the Sixers tied as the fifth favorite for the NBA title at 22-to-1, trailing the San Antonio Spurs (2.4-to-1), Oklahoma City Thunder (2.5-to-1), New York Knicks (8.5-to-1) and Celtics (14-to-1).

Their immediate title hopes still hinge largely on the availability of Embiid. The difference now is that they will not need Embiid to be anything close to his MVP prime in order to be taken seriously. Even if he is some lesser form of who he was last postseason, the Sixers can make an argument for having the edge in top-end talent regardless of matchup. Even if Embiid is absent entirely, they almost certainly should be expected to challenge for a top four playoff seed.

Are there ways this could go wrong? Sure. The loss of the 2028 pick would be particularly acute for a team who was presumed to need two or three solid drafts to get itself ready for the post-Embiid era. Their depth is still a major question mark. They have a conspicuous lack of volume-capable three-point shooting on the wing. We have yet to hear Brown’s thoughts at having been traded to a place like Philadelphia, on a team with two young ball-dominant scorers and Embiid. At the same time, they can always pivot if it does not work.

There is always risk. The question is the price of it. For the Sixers, there wasn’t much to decide.