Why Tyrese Maxey Stands to Gain Most From Jaylen Brown Trade
A statistical look at how Jaylen Brown's arrival in Philadelphia could ease Tyrese Maxey's shot-creation burden, and why LeBron James and Anfernee Simons complicate the picture.
Published: · Figures as of September 3, 2026
Asked: Who benefits most from Jaylen Brown joining Philly?
Maxey stands to gain the most from adding Brown
Of everyone already on Philadelphia's roster, Tyrese Maxey is best positioned to benefit: last season he carried the offense's shot creation (29.4% usage, best playmaking mark on the roster at 2.70 assists per turnover) largely alone, because Joel Embiid played only 38 of 82 games and the wing group behind him (Paul George, Kelly Oubre, Quentin Grimes) was thin or unavailable. Brown is a proven, durable, high-usage scorer who doesn't need the ball fed to him to be effective — exactly the profile Maxey lacked around him.
The numbers behind it
Rates below are all from the 2025-2026 regular season (Brown's with Boston, before the move; the others as filed).
| Player | Team last season | GP | PPG | Usage% | TS% | AST/TO | 3PAr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyrese Maxey | PHI (returning) | 70 | 28.3 | 29.4% | 58.8% | 2.70 | 39.9% |
| Joel Embiid | PHI (returning) | 38 | 26.9 | 33.6% | 60.5% | 1.38 | 22.8% |
| VJ Edgecombe | PHI (returning) | 75 | 16.0 | 19.9% | 54.0% | 2.30 | 40.9% |
| Jaylen Brown | Boston (arriving) | 71 | 28.7 | 36.3% | 57.3% | 1.41 | 26.2% |
| LeBron James | LA Lakers (arriving) | 60 | 20.9 | — | 59.4% | 2.41 | 26.4% |
| Anfernee Simons | Chicago (arriving) | 55 | 14.3 | — | 57.6% | 1.97 | 58.5% |
| K. Caldwell-Pope | Memphis (arriving) | 51 | 8.4 | — | 53.3% | 2.28 | 47.5% |
| Paul George (departed) | PHI | 37 | 17.3 | — | 57.0% | 2.08 | 49.7% |
Brown's shot profile (36.3% usage, low 3-point-attempt rate at 26.2%, 71 games played) reads as a self-sufficient two-level scorer rather than a spot-up shooter — he gets his own offense rather than needing Maxey to generate it for him. That's a direct upgrade over what George offered (only 37 games, similar efficiency but far less availability) as the team's second scoring option. With Brown absorbing more of the shot-creation burden, Maxey's game — which already leans toward the best passing profile in this group — has room to shift toward more playmaking, especially in the games Embiid sits, which happened 44 times last season.
The complication worth flagging
Brown isn't the only new shot-creator in the building. LeBron James (20.9 PPG, 59.4% TS, low 3-point rate — a similar two-level scoring profile to Brown) and Anfernee Simons (a high-volume, movement three-point shooter at a 58.5% attempt rate) also arrived. That's four plausible high-usage options — Maxey, Embiid, Brown, LeBron — competing for shots and touches, which nothing in last season's data can resolve since none of them shared a court together. So while Brown's arrival most directly fills the gap Maxey was covering alone, how minutes and shots actually split among this reshaped group is genuinely unresolved rather than something the numbers settle.
Confidence: Medium — the fit case for Maxey rests on solid, real efficiency and usage numbers, but it's a projection about role distribution on a roster that turned over heavily (George, Grimes, Oubre, Drummond and five others departed; Brown, LeBron, Simons, Caldwell-Pope and others arrived), and no on-court data exists yet for how these particular pieces play together.