Jaylen Brown probably should have waited a little bit before saying this was his favorite season as a pro basketball player on the heels of the 2-seed Boston Celtics blowing a 3-1 series lead against a 7-seed.
That said, the last person in the world who needs to tell him to “be quiet” is Stephen A. Smith.
After the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs, during which Brown was called for 10 offensive fouls, he took to Twitch to unload on the refs, earning himself a $50,000 fine. Unfazed, he would later double down on those comments.
The five-time All-Star also mentioned that this was his favorite season of his NBA career, which naturally raised eyebrows, considering he won a title with the Celtics in 2024 and they’d just fallen very short of expectations days earlier.
As if that wasn’t enough, Tracy McGrady said during a recent episode of the Cousins podcast that Brown has a frustration that “lies deeply within the organization and other things that we don’t really have the details to.” That led Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to downplay any perceived rift with Brown, saying that when the two spoke Monday, it was “nothing but positive.”
Later on his Twitch stream, Brown then reiterated that he has a great relationship with the franchise.
“I hate that our president of basketball operations even had to respond to this,” Brown said. “Me and Brad have a great relationship. I love Boston. And if it was up to me, I could play in Boston for the next 10 years.”
All’s well that ends well. Except that’s not the end of the story because Stephen A. Smith hadn’t had a chance to comment on the situation yet. He finally did on Thursday, excoriating Brown and telling him to shut up unless he’s attempting to get himself traded.
“He needs to be quiet,” said Smith. “Unless you’re trying to get traded.”
Smith also suggested that Tatum was on First Take instead of Brown’s Twitch stream because he is annoyed with his teammate’s comments.
Brown saw the clip on social media and offered a rebuttal.
“I’ll ‘be quiet’ [or] stop streaming if you ‘be quiet’ and retire,” he wrote on X. “Let’s give the people what they want.”
If we know anything about Smith, he’s not going to let that slide. Expect a rebuttal of some kind, perhaps during his Friday reunion with Skip Bayless.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.