LeBron Confirmed That Going To The Sixers Wasn't Even On His Radar Until The Jaylen Brown Trade

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When the Shams bomb first dropped that LeBron was taking his talents to Philly, I'd say it was a pretty big surprise. Leading up to his Decision 2.0, you mostly heard about the Cavs or the Heat. There were also some GS rumors floating around of partnering with Steph and then possibly trading for AD, and while there was chatter about the Sixers early on, I think most people expected the final decision to be either the Cavs or Heat. 

Obviously, that did not happen. 

So why the Sixers? People have their different theories as to how we ended up here, so LeBron decided to tell the world himself

He can talk about his relationship with Maxey all he wants or how he wants to help Embiid win a ring, that's all fine and good. The fact of the matter is now we can say with certainty that the main reason this move happened was because of the Jaylen Brown trade. LeBron confirming this goes along with some of the rumors Shams was putting out back in July

which also pretty much backs up what I blogged back when this all first happened. The Sixers superteam is pretty much a direct result of Brad Stevens' decision

I mean you heard LeBron, Philly wasn't even a question at the time, then the Jaylen trade happened and here we are. That trade only happened because of Brad Stevens. 

We don't need to rehash the whole debate as to whether or not this was the right decision or if Brad fucked up, that's what the upcoming season will tell us. This is a trade that we can't really evaluate in late September, even though people will want to. Hell, it's probably not even something we can answer until the postseason and then the ensuing seasons.

But here's what I can say. It's definitely a little annoying as a Celts fan to hear LeBron say stuff like that. I think once the whole Giannis sweepstakes happened most Celts fans understood that a Jaylen trade was inevitable. It was more a matter of "where" and not "if". And even understanding the process behind it and how the Celts are constructed based on the style they are diving into while also acknowledging that it's clear Brad wanted out of the Jaylen Brown business, it's still pretty damn annoying that the end result was the Sixers. At the same time, that was clearly the best possible package available given Jaylen's current salary and pending max extension once it was clear they weren't going to overpay for Giannis, so in a way that's just how the cookie crumbles.

Even accepting all that, it still doesn't make it any less annoying. I am not someone who believes Jaylen Brown is this negative player on the court who only hurts teams and provides no value or whatever the slander campaign was while his trade speculation was going on. 

I do think he's going to help the Sixers which as someone who has despised that franchise for pretty much my entire life, makes me want to puke. It's also fucked that I can't even really root for Jaylen to have any success in his post-Celts career, because that'll of course mean the Sixers have had success. For a player who gave me so much over the last decade, it sucks that I now have to root for his demise. That's why a trade to pretty much anywhere else outside of the Sixers or Lakers would have been my preference, but instead we have to live in this timeline.

After what was easily one of the most chaotic NBA offseasons we've had in years, things are shaping up to be an all time NBA season, and LeBron's decision is obviously a big part of that. For him to confirm that this all happened because of Brad's decision, all I can say is he better be right.