Early in July, the Boston Celtics acquired Paul George and four future draft picks in the deal for Jaylen Brown, who finished sixth in the NBA's MVP voting this past season.

Brown averaged 28.7 ppg for Boston and will now try to do the same for Philly, where he'll team up with LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Regardless of the exact numbers that Brown puts up, he's clearly expected to be a winning player for Philadelphia. However, what the Celtics should expect from George is much more difficult to project.

Let's dive a little deeper.

A 16-year veteran of the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and 76ers, George is a nine-time All-Star, a six-time All-NBA selection, a four-time All-Defensive team member, and he also won the steals crown in 2018-19.

A career 20.5 ppg scorer, he's now 36 years old. He averaged 17.3 ppg for the 76ers last season, but he only played 37 games. He has played 60 games or less in six of the last seven seasons, meaning there's real concern about his age and health in this deal.

First and foremost, the Celtics would probably feel extremely fortunate if they got 50 regular season games and a healthy playoffs out of George. Even after moving on from Brown, the Celtics are expected to be a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference.

George has played 50 games or more in just two of the last four seasons, and neither of the last two. Furthermore, the Celtics have to hope that he can continue to shoot it well from the outside, where he connected on 39.2 percent of his 3-pointers a season ago.

At this point, given his injury history and age, he's not going to be someone that is going to get into the lane routinely. That job will probably fall on Jayson Tatum, who will look to be able to kick out to George, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White.

Front office leader Brad Stevens has spoken about this team getting more balanced, and the acquisition of Mitchell Robinson should help on that front, but it doesn't seem like George will really be doing that.

The NBA schedule is not yet out for the 2026-27 season, but the preseason schedule is. The Celtics will play the 76ers twice in the preseason, meaning that George will get two early cracks at his old team.