Boston Celtics

​“He needs to be quiet … unless he wants to be traded."

Celtics star Jaylen Brown has just about had it with ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith.

​During Thursday’s taping of “First Take”, Smith stressed that Brown needs to stop speaking after several comments on Twitch that have drawn plenty of headlines.

​“He needs to be quiet … unless he wants to be traded,” Smith said.​

Brown responded to Smith just a few hours later on social media.

“I’ll ‘be quiet’ / stop streaming if you ‘be quiet’ and retire let’s give the people what they want,” Brown posted to X.

Smith replied to Brown’s challenge in short order.

“Bro, I got love for you so I’m not going to even go there. Folks are looking out for you and you don’t even realize it. Here you are making this kind of noise and it hasn’t even been a week since you lost a 3-1 lead. You’re HOME,” Smith posted to X. “A champion and a Finals MVP saying his favorite season is the season he’s home in the FIRST ROUND. This is not about ME. It’s about YOU….and what YOU SAID. Enjoy your offseason.”

Smith has taken umbrage with Brown’s remarks over the last week about the state of officiating in the NBA, stating that Sixers star Joel Embiid flops too much, and his repeated musings that the 2025-26 season was the favorite of his NBA career — even if it ended with a first-round exit at the hands of the Sixers.  

​“[Flopping] is not why the Boston Celtics lost,” Smith said earlier this week. “The Boston Celtics lost because they lived and died with the three, because they played dumb basketball down the stretch. … They just launched three after three after three and missed six or seven straight threes in the last two minutes [of Game 7].​

​“They blew this opportunity. They were up 3-1, and you lost. This is not the time to be talking about Joel Embiid flopping — damn sure not [the time] to do a show, a podcast show, or video show about it.”​

Brown — who was fined $50,000 by the NBA for his comments about officiating — attempted to clear the air over several of his comments during a Twitch live stream on Wednesday. ​

In particular, Brown pushed back against reports that there is some “frustration” with the Celtics at this stage of his NBA career.

“First things first, lotta stuff swirling around the Celtics and our organization,” Brown said. “Hate that our president of basketball operations [Brad Stevens] even had to respond to this. Me and Brad have a great relationship. I love Boston. If it was up to me, I’d play in Boston for the next 10 years. I’ll say it again: I hate that Brad even had to respond to this.”