Simone: It's impossible to wrap your head around the Jaylen Brown trade

I didn't even see the notification from Shams Charania of ESPN before my brother, Henry, texted me. Apparently, his internet is faster than mine. These are the two texts that I saw:

"That ain't it." "That sucks."

I was sitting with three friends in my living room at the time, watching the conclusion of the Belgium vs. Senegal World Cup game. Before the Charania post even loaded, those two texts told me what had happened. So, I told them. "Jaylen just got traded," I said. They immediately asked what the return package was.

When the post finally loaded and I saw the package, I was already on my way downstairs to my room to begin working. I said, "Paul George," and all I heard behind me were three loud screams: "What?!"

Emotions were, and still are, running at an all-time high. In what very well may be the worst trade in the history of the organization, the Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for George, two first-round picks, and two first-round pick swaps.

Sound dramatic? Well, consider this article from Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston from a few years ago. It details some of the worst trades in Celtics history. Trading Chauncey Billups. The return package for Antoine Walker. Moving on from Joe Johnson halfway through his rookie year.

None of those trades sit in the same realm of existence as the Brown move that the Celtics completed on Wednesday. It truly lives in a universe of its own. Nothing compares.

There is no arguing with reality: This was a horrendous trade for the Celtics. They got negative value in return for a guy who just led them to 56 wins while enjoying an All-NBA Second Team campaign. A guy who has poured his heart into the City of Boston from the moment he stepped foot off the plane from the University of California back in 2017.

Boston got back a $54.1 million contract -- which is really $57.7 million because of George's trade kicker -- two first-round picks and two second-round picks. The two firsts are decent. The 2028 first had a good chance of landing in the lottery, and who knows what the Sixers could look like by 2031. But that's not nearly enough to take away from the sting of the deal in its entirety.

Yet the biggest questions being asked right now shouldn't even be about the deal itself. Why did you trade for George? Why did you trade Brown? Why was this the final return? All are valid questions, but none are truly relevant to the bigger picture.

In the immediate aftermath of the trade, my column ran on shock-and-awe. Rather than the sugar and caffeine that often power my writing during late-night post-game sessions, it was bewildermint. The pure disbelief upon seeing the final Brown trade package.

Most of my thoughts remain the same, but the one thing I keep doubling back to is the real question that needs to be asked: How did the situation get to this point?

The point where Brown had to be traded for a negative asset. The point where the deal had to be done on July 1, at the very beginning of the offseason. The point where this was the best offer on the table.

And that last part, in my opinion, is the most intriguing. This was the best offer available for Brown? No team in the entire NBA was willing to shell out more than George, two firsts, and two seconds?

For as much slack as Brad Stevens is going to get for this trade -- and trust me, it's deserved -- his tenure as GM has been littered with great moves. Trades and signings that improved the overall outlook of the Celtics.

The Marcus Smart deal was made at the right time for a phenomenal price, and it brought back Kristaps Porzingis. The Jrue Holiday trade was an in-the-moment move that ultimately helped Boston win a championship. The Al Horford trade was the first of his time in the front office. The Derrick White deal turned out to be a genius move.

Even this season, though some may be upset with the financially incentivized nature, everything he did was with the future of the Celtics in mind. He wanted to set them up to build an even better team in the future, without the luxury tax and apron penalties hanging over them. That could give them a chance to make similar moves to the successful ones he made in 2023.

The point is that Stevens has a track record of accepting the best possible trade at the best possible time. So what could have possibly happened for him to accept a trade this ugly for a player so important to the Celtics organization?

That's the real question, and one that will certainly be asked whenever Stevens holds his next press conference (I'll make sure of it). And it's a question whose three potential answers are all painful to digest.

Potential answer No. 1: Jaylen Brown requested a trade.

By all public accounts, this is untrue. All the reporting out there says this was a move by the Celtics, not by Brown. They wanted to trade him. He did not request a trade.

So, unless Boston is trying to protect Brown on the way out -- which seems unlikely, given how strong the reaction has been -- this answer is false. The Celtics made this move because they wanted to.

And when you consider Brown's first official statement since the trade, this answer seems even more unlikely. Borderline impossible.

Potential answer No. 2: The relationship was so toxic that it had to end immediately.

This cannot be ruled out. Boston's infamous desire to keep things in-house (ironic, considering the current reality we're living in) would try to keep this potential answer as private as possible. It would likely only get out if Brown and his camp decide to tell the story, and at that point, the other side of things would probably have to get revealed.

Maybe the conversations after the Celtics' first-round loss to the Sixers were ugly. Maybe the Celtics told Brown they were going back to how they played before the Jayson Tatum-less 2025-26 campaign. That they needed him to take a step back again to the 2024 version of his game. And maybe he didn't take that well.

If that were the case -- or at least some internal breakdown of the sort -- the timing could make some sense. The relationship between Brown and the Celtics was irreparable, and both sides wanted a resolution as quickly as possible. But even then, it seems illogical for the Celtics not to wait until the offers got better than what they ultimately got.

Potential answer No.3: The Celtics believe their best chance at winning is