Boston Celtics
Brown, following the 76ers’ win over the Bucks last Saturday night, kept the story alive in his unique and predictable way.
The Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the rival 76ers this past summer. AP Photo/Chris Szagola
October 27, 2026 | 2:13 PM
4 minutes to read
Jaylen Brown has always made slights, real or perceived, work for him.
His confidence and pride — the belief that he’s better than the players he’s going against, and, let’s acknowledge it, the ones he’s playing with, as well — are among his superpowers that have helped him become a five-time All-Star, a champion, an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, and a beloved Celtic.
Sometimes, when he plays on your favorite team, his habit of dribbling into social-media traffic and hunting grievances like he hunts mismatches on the basketball court requires fans to rationalize some solipsistic behaviors. A few eyebrow-raisers from his latter Celtics seasons:
Tweeting at Nike “this what we’re doing?” after Celtics teammate Derrick White was added to the US men’s Olympic basketball team — which is sponsored by the apparel company with which Brown has bickered — over him in July 2024.
Sharing and acknowledging multiple social-media posts last season — while longtime running mate Jayson Tatum was enduring the physical and mental agony of rehabilitating after tearing his Achilles tendon — that indicated the Celtics were just as good without Tatum as they were with him the year before.
Most egregiously, calling last season the favorite of his career hours after the Celtics bricked away a 3-1 lead and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the 76ers last spring.
Brown is also addicted to being cryptic, to casually stoking controversy and then acting like everyone else is making a big deal out of something he sparked. Again … tolerable when he’s dropping 29 points a night for the very good basketball team that you care about.
But when he’s no longer on your team?
It becomes annoying in a hurry. And potentially damaging to his perception, if not his Boston legacy, in the long term.
Brown, of course, is no longer in green, having been dealt to the rival 76ers on July 1 in a seismic move that brought 36-year-old Paul George and four draft picks to the Celtics. The deal — especially the seemingly small return — rattled Celtics fans.
George’s strong and selfless play — hey, he is a nine-time All-Star — during the Celtics’ 2-1 start has helped a sizable portion of fans work through any lingering stages of grief over the deal. But Brown’s behavior is accelerating that process.
Brown has acted since the trade like he’s the only excellent player in NBA history to be dealt. That’s led to various — here’s that word again — cryptic and not-so-cryptic digs at the Celtics over the last few months.
Those include suggesting that president of basketball operations Brad Stevens wasn’t forthcoming with him when trade rumors, including the initial one that indicated the Celtics were willing to trade Brown to the Bucks in a deal for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, began percolating. What did Brown want, to listen in on every trade negotiation?
We’ll spare you the full rehash of Brown’s recent pettiness toward Tatum since it’s well past tiresome. The Reader’s Digest condensed version: In video clips detailing his summer that dropped last week, Tatum said he was shocked by the trade. Brown responded on X.com with a cap emoji, essentially calling Tatum a liar and indicating that Brown thinks Tatum knew about it.
It also indirectly suggests Stevens is being dishonest, given that he said earlier this month that he has a strict rule against asking players about trading their teammates, explaining, “I don’t ask other guys about other guys because I don’t want to put them in that position.”
Tatum responded thoughtfully after the Celtics’ win over the champion Knicks last Friday night, essentially saying he wishes all they accomplished together in nine seasons as teammates should be the focus.
“We should be celebrated. You know how many people played in this league and never went to the Finals? We went twice and won a championship, so it should be more about that,” he said. “Like, this ain’t no [expletive] Shaq and Kobe. There’s no beef.”
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown played together for nine seasons with the Celtics. – Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Brown, following the 76ers’ win over the Bucks last Saturday night, kept the story alive in his unique and predictable way. He said some nice things about Tatum, noted he has a good PR team for some reason, then said, “There’s no beef, but it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy,” a line he liked so much that he repeated it.
Brown will keep using those slights as his fuel, whether or not they’re real. His stubbornness — that pride, that confidence — has helped him reach extraordinary heights. But it’s going to prevent him from ever recognizing, let alone acknowledging, reality.
The Celtics traded him in large part because the collective bargaining agreement makes it virtually impossible to build a true contender when two players have max contracts, especially when one of those players isn’t quite worthy of such a deal.
I don’t know if Brown, a vice president of the players association, had a clue that the punitive second apron in the CBA might lead to him and Tatum being broken up. But it’s clear that he thinks he’s the superior player, and the one the Celtics should have kept.
He is not the one they should have kept. He’s shorter, older, has a less-diverse offensive game, and does not rebound, defend, or pass as well — especially pass.
He is better at one thing, I suppose: those petty, cryptic social-media games.
Ask me, though, his little jabs at the Celtics are a pretty lame way to follow up his favorite season.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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