Jaylen Brown’s Potential Boston Return Could Come This Preseason

As we — and the NBA schedule makers — await the news on where LeBron James is heading for the 2026-27 season, we did get a bit of Sixers news.

The Boston Celtics revealed their preseason slate, which features two games against the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last season.

While a home-and-home preseason set against Boston makes sense logistically, it’s a little surprising the NBA wouldn’t want these matchups to happen during the regular season. While where James signs will have a massive effect on the schedule, Sixers-Celtics should absolutely be a game that happens on opening night after the blockbuster trade that landed Jaylen Brown in Philadelphia.

Brown will surely get a hero’s welcome at TD Garden. He was there for a decade and won a championship, taking home Finals MVP. It’s been widely reported and confirmed by Brown himself that he never wanted to leave Boston. Plus, Brown’s first game in Philly against the Celtics will also be appointment viewing. The Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd will be going nuts for their new star against his former team. Let’s also not forget what happened the last time these two teams played.

Maybe the Sixers hold Brown out for those contests, hoping to save all the juice for when the games count. It just seems like an own-goal on the NBA’s part.

The Sixers have yet to announce their full preseason campaign, but at least we know two games and the timeframe. We’ll keep you posted when the entire preseason schedule is available.

As for the regular season, we’ll have to see where The King puts his crown before we know that.