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When the Boston Celtics sent Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal involving Paul George, one of the assets they received was a 2028 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers, who were docked five first-round picks on Wednesday, find themselves in one of the more interesting positions in NBA history. However, this can be good news for the Celtics. At the same time, even if the Clippers had been in a different spot, it's only fair to suggest they weren't going to be the best team. The Clippers, however, aren't going to just mail it in. At the very least, that's what history suggests, so it doesn't feel like the Celtics really got much news regarding the NBA's decision earlier in the week. “Celtics fans were celebrating the punishment for the Clippers. The logic: Though the ins and outs of the 2028 pick the team got from Philadelphia were complicated, the most likely outcome was always that the Celtics would get to swap for the Clippers’ pick if it was in the lottery, or would get the pick outright (and keep their own) if it was not. The celebration stemmed from the fact that the Clippers now would be a bad team. “But the reality is, the Clippers were focused on rebuilding either way. They could wind up as a fringe play-in team, or more likely a non-play-in team in 2028. That would have given them three balls in the new 3-2-1 lottery system. That’s still the most likely outcome even after the league’s punishment–the Clippers should get three balls, like six other teams. The Celtics’ odds at a top pick probably are the same,” Sean Deveney wrote. With the new lottery system, the Celtics would have benefited from the Clippers getting three balls, though again, that's far from guaranteed just yet. The Clippers don't have much reason to lose games, especially since they don't have their own picks, making this one of the more interesting scenarios in the NBA and something that should help Boston.