“He Was an Innocent Bystander”: NBA Legend Isiah Thomas Calls Out Celtics for Jaylen Brown Trade

It's been a month since the Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown. In early July, Celtics president Brad Stevens made the shocking decision to send Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George. According to Stevens, while Brown has proven to be a valuable piece, from a business standpoint, they had to choose between him and Jayson Tatum.

NBA legend Isiah Thomas recently opened up about Brown's trade situation. Thomas believes that the Celtics' decision to trade one of their star players was handled poorly. The basketball legend also noted that while trades are inevitable, he doesn't like how Brown was treated throughout the scenario.

"It definitely could've been handled better," Thomas said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. "We've never seen the Celtics organization act this way with one of their better players. The Celtics have always been the model. ... Jaylen Brown, I just thought he was an innocent bystander in all of it, kind of catching strays, and people going by just taking shots at him."

Brown has definitely expressed his frustrations with the team since he first heard the news. The former Celtics star immediately went on his Twitch livestream in July to express his feelings of betrayal towards Boston.

Fast forward to the present day, Brown shared how he initially reacted behind the scenes when he first heard he was being traded to the 76ers.

"When I first got traded, I just threw my phone across the room," Brown said in a 76ers introductory press conference on Thursday. "It might've been (Tyrese Maxey) who reached out to me first. He reached out and was like, 'I know there's a lot of stuff going on right now, but we're excited to have you.'"

While it may be an upsetting situation for Brown, he can now look forward to a new era in Philadelphia.

With Joel Embiid, LeBron James, and Tyrese Maxey as his newfound teammates, the 76ers look to be an unstoppable team in the Eastern Conference, hopefully winning the championship this coming season.

Jaylen Brown on His Main Focus After Getting Traded to the 76ers

Jaylen Brown is entering his 11th NBA season, but for the first time, it won't be in Boston Celtics colors. After a decade with the franchise, Brown is heading to Philadelphia, ready to suit up for the 76ers.

A new team means a new set of priorities and at his introductory press conference, Brown didn't hold back on what's driving him now.

"My focus is winning," Brown said. "My focus is going to every practice, every meeting, every shootaround, every film session, like how do we win night in and night out. ... Whatever it takes. At this point in my career, nothing else really moves me. ... I don't care about the MVP awards or the Finals MVP. None of that stuff really moves me. It's nice. But the only thing that's going to move me is a championship."

With Joel Embiid, LeBron James, and Tyrese Maxey playing alongside him, Brown's championship aspirations are realistic. The 76ers are currently the fourth-favorite team to win the title this coming season, with +900 odds of bringing home the gold.

It'll all come down to whether the four All-Stars can mesh well during the offseason and at the start of the 2026-27 season.

We've seen many superteams with zero chemistry flop over the years. Hopefully, the 2026-27 76ers won't end up with a similar fate.