The Boston Celtics opened up the preseason with a 124-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night in Cleveland and they'll have their first home preseason game on Saturday (8 p.m. ET) against the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, as noted by ESPN and Zack Cox of the Boston Herald, it doesn't seem like Jaylen Brown is going to play in his first game back at TD Garden since being traded from Boston to Philadelphia over the summer.

The 76ers are likely to sit their starters, meaning Boston fans won't get a look at LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey or Joel Embiid either.

For Brown specifically, this means that he'll have to wait until January for a true "welcome, back" moment in front of the TD Garden faithful. That first Celtics-76ers game at TD Garden is set for Jan. 21.

The Celtics sat most of their regulars in Thursday's contest, so they are likely to play their starters on Saturday, giving the home crowd a first look at Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Mitchell Robinson, Paul George and Neemias Queta.

Drafted with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brown has spent all 10 years of his career with the Celtics, until now. A five-time All-Star, he finished sixth in the MVP voting last season, scoring 28.7 ppg. He also earned a spot on the NBA's All-Second Team for his efforts. 

He helped the Celtics get to the NBA Finals in both 2021-22 and 2023-24. The Celtics won the latter title and Brown was named MVP of the NBA Finals.

He paired with Tatum to make one of the best duos in basketball for a half-decade or so and this will be the first time in nine years we have seen them not in the organization together.

Boston got double-figure efforts from six different players, including Luka Garza (22) and Devin Carter (17). Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman each had 16 while rookie Dillon Mitchell had 10.

Boston was 17-of-47 from 3-point range, showing again that they'll be heavily reliant on the outside shot to succeed. Scheierman was 4-of-7 from deep to lead the way.

First-round pick Chris Cenac Jr. struggled in his pro debut, scoring seven points on 3-of-13 shooting. That said, he did have eight rebounds and Boston out-rebounded the Cavaliers by 17 (56-39) in all.