Wheeler alum Jaylen Brown heads to Sixers in trade that shocks NBA

The dust has not quite settled on one of this season’s blockbuster trades during NBA free agency.

On Wednesday, the Celtics agreed to a deal to send former NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown — a Marietta native who played at Wheeler High School — to the 76ers, their division rival.

In exchange, they received Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.

Seeing Brown traded didn’t come as much of a surprise for the NBA community, as the Celtics reportedly had been among the teams in the running to acquire former Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The speculation included Brown as the big prize offered to the Bucks. But the Bucks opted to make a trade with the Heat instead, leaving the Celtics to find another partner.

But now, Brown heads to Philadelphia, where he’ll team up with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid. And the Sixers, who eliminated the Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, seemingly didn’t have to give up a massive haul to get the All-NBA wing.

Going from one rival to another caught Brown by surprise.

“For the last 10 years, I’ve been programmed to hate Philadelphia,” Brown said in a stream on Twitch. “From the history, chat, to the history of the rivalry, to just the playoff battles and all of the above, you know ‘The Process,’ and I’ve been programmed to … ‘The Process.’

“So, it’s funny now I’ve got to reverse engineer, and that’s the part that’s going to take some time. But, you know, I’ll be ready to go by the time the season starts. But my brain had been Boston-Philly. Now, it’s like, I’m on the other end.”

The trade also tips the balance of power in the East, where the Sixers have risen to one of the outside favorites to challenge the defending champion Knicks.