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On Wednesday, ESPN and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that former Cal player Jaylen Brown will be part of a major trade that will send Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers while Paul George and four draft picks will be sent to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Brown.
That deal ranks as one of the biggest NBA trades involving a former Cal player.
But is it the biggest? We ranked the 17 trades involving ex-Cal players that were deemed worthy of inclusion.
In many cases the former Golden Bear was the key player in the trade, but in other cases he was just part of a blockbuster deal.
The difference between our selection for the biggest trade involving a Cal player and the No.
2 pick is razor-thin and depends on the details you consider.
17.
Mark McNamara (San Antonio to Kansas City) In December of 1984, the Spurs traded Mark McNamara to the Kings for Billy Knight.
Knight was an aging three-time all-star who had started 420 regular-season NBA games.
McNamara was a third-year player who had been a first-round draft pick in 1982 but had started just one NBA game at the time of the trade.
16.
Jamal Sampson, 2002 (Utah to Orlando to Milwaukee) Sampson has the distinction of being a member of three NBA teams on the same day, so this deal is included for its weirdness.
On June 26, 2002, Utah selected Sampson in the second round of the NBA draft.
Later that day he was traded to the Magic along with Ryan Humphrey in exchange for Curtis Borchardt.
Still later on June 26, Sampson was traded again, going from Orlando to the Bucks in exchange for Rashard Griffith.
Sampson appeared in five games for the Bucks in 2002-03 without scoring a point, and played five NBA seasons for five different teams.
15.
Phil Chenier, 1979 (Washington to Indiana) The Bullets traded Chenier to the Pacers for future considerations.
Put this transaction in the sad-ending category.
Chenier had been selected to the all-star game for the third time just three years earlier, but injuries had limited his playing time since then.
The Pacers never got any players from the December 1979 trade, and they waived Chenier two months later.
14.
Allen Crabbe, 2019 (Brooklyn to Atlanta) Crabbe was traded along with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and a first-round draft pick by the Nets to the Hawks in exchange for Taurean Prince and a second-round pick.
Crabbe had been a starter for the Nets for much of the previous two seasons but suffered a knee injury that wiped out half of his 2018-19 season.
Prince had been a starter for the Hawks the previous two seasons.
13.
Sean Marks, 1998 (New York to Toronto) The Knicks traded Sean Marks, Charles Oakley and cash to the Raptors for Marcus Camby.
One day after being a second-round pick of the Knicks in the 1998 NBA draft, Marks was part of a deal in which Oakley and Camby were the main parties.
Oakley had been a starter for the Knicks for the previous 12 seasons, and Camby had been a starter for Toronto in in 1997-98 in his second NBA season.
12.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, 2001 (Vancouver to Atlanta) The Grizzlies traded Abdur-Rahim and the draft rights to Jamaal Tinsley to the Hawks for Brevin Knight, Lorenzen Wright, and the draft rights to Pau Gasol.
Abdur-Rahim had finished his fourth straight season of averaging more than 20 points a game when he was part of the trade that enabled the Grizzlies to acquire Gasol, a coveted player from Spain who was the third overall pick in the 2001 draft.
11.
Jason Kidd, 1996 (Dallas to Phoenix) Kidd was traded along with Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer by the Mavericks to the Suns for Michael Finley, A.C.
Green, and Sam Cassell.
Kidd had been an all-star the previous season, his second in the NBA.
Finley had averaged 15.0 points the previous season for Phoenix, Green had been an all-star in 1989-90 and Cassell was averaging 14.8 points for the Suns at the time of the trade.
10.
Lamond Murray-Michael Stewart, 2002 (Raptors and Cavaliers) Former Cal players were traded for each other in September 2002 when the Raptors sent Michael Stewart and a 2007 first-round pick to the Cavaliers in exchange for Lamond Murray and 2004 second-round pick.
Murray was already out for the entire 2002-03 season with a preseason foot injury after averaging 16.8 points as a starter for the Cavs the previous season.
Stewart had not done much since his rookie season in 1997-98 when he started 37 games for the Kings and averaged 2.4 blocks.
9.
Jason Kidd, 2014 (Brooklyn to Milwaukee) In a rare coaching trade, Kidd had been the Nets head coach for one season before he was traded to the Bucks for two second-round draft picks to become Milwaukees head coach.
8.
Ryan Anderson, 2009 (New Jersey to Orlando) Ryan Anderson and Vince Carter were traded by the Nets to the Magic, who sent Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee to the Nets.
Carter was already an eight-time all-star who was coming off a season in which he averaged 20.8 points for the Nets, while Anderson had started 30 games as a rookie for the Nets in 2008-09.
Alston had started 76 games in 2008-09, and Lee started 42 games as a rookie that same season.
7.
Ed Gray, 1999 (Portland to Houston) In October 1999, the Trail Blazers traded five players -- Ed Gray, Stacey Agmon, Brian Shaw, Walt Williams and Kelvin Kato -- to the Rockets in exchange for Scottie Pippen.
Pippen was already a seven-time all-star and had finished in the top five in MVP voting twice when the Trail Blazers gave up five players to get him.
Williams had averaged in double figures in scoring in nine of his previous 11 seasons.
Gray had made six starts in his two NBA seasons before the trade, and would not play another NBA game after the trade.
6.
Kevin Johnson, 1988 (Cleveland to Phoenix) In February 1988, the Cavaliers sent Kevin Johnson, Tyrone Corbin, Mark West, a 1988 first-round draft pick and two second-round picks to the Suns in exchange for Larry Nance, Mike Sanders, and a 1988 first-round draft pick.
Johnson was a rookie after being the No.
7 overall pick in the 1987 draft, but was not starting for the Cavs when he was traded.
He instantly became a starter in Phoenix and was a three-time all-star.
Nance had been an all-star in 1984-85, had won the first-ever slam-dunk contest in 1984, and was averaging 21.1 points for the Suns when he was traded.
5.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, 2004 (Atlanta to Portland) In a midseason 2004 deal, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratliff, and Dan Dickau were traded by the Hawks to the Trailblazers in exchange for the Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person.
Abdur-Rahim had been an all-star two years earlier, and Wallace was a two-time all-star when the trade was made.
A week later, the Pistons and Celtics were involved in the deal with Atlanta, essentially making it a four-team transaction, with the main move being Wallace going to Detroit.
4.
Jason Kidd, 2008 (New Jersey to Dallas) On February 19, 2008, two days after playing in his ninth all-star game, Kidd was traded along with Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright by the Nets to the Mavericks in exchange for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, Trenton Hassell, Keith Van Horn, two first-round draft picks and $3 million in cash.
The trade that brought Kidd back to the Mavs involved eight players, two first-round picks and a lot of money.
Harris, the key Mavs player involved in the deal, was averaging 14.8 points at the time of the trade and would be an all-star the following season.
3.
Darrall Imhoff, 1968 (Los Angeles to Philadelphia) The Lakers traded Darrall Imhoff along with Archie Clark and Jerry Chambers to the 76ers in exchange for Wilt Chamberlain.
Chamberlain, one of the best players in history, had just won his third straight MVP award in 1967-68 when he was dealt to the Lakers in July.
Imhoff had been an all-star in 1966-67, but he is best known for being one of the Knicks players who defended Chamberlain when Chamberlain scored 100 points for Philadelphia in March 1962.
Imhoff is also remembered for being a throw-in to one of the most significant trades in pro basketball history 2.
Jason Kidd, 2001 (Phoenix to New Jersey) Kidd was traded by the Suns to the Nets in exchange for Stephon Marbury.
In the summer following his fourth all-star selection in 2000-2001 Kidd was traded for Marbury, who was also an all-star in 2000-2001 when he averaged 23.9 points for the Nets.
Its just a one-for-one deal, but a trade that sends two current all-stars in opposite directions is rare and creates shock waves.
It received consideration for the No.
1 spot in our trade rankings.
1.
Jaylen Brown, 2026 (Boston to Philadelphia) The Celtics agreed to trade Jaylen Brown to the 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
When one player (Brown) gets traded for a nine-time all-star (George) and two first-round picks it counts as a monster transaction.
Brown is a five-time all-star (including the last four seasons in a row) and is coming off his best season, averaging 28.7 points and finishing sixth in the MVP voting at the age of 29.
He was the NBA Finals MVP in 2024 when the Celtics won the title.
George has been an all-star nine times, as recently as the 2023-24 season, and averaged 17.1 points for the Sixers this past season.
However, injuries limited him to 41 games in 2024-25 and 37 games this past season.
He turned 36 in May.
The inclusion of two first-round picks was enough to push this deal to No.
1.
Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup.
He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.