Donovan Mitchell has seen enough. In the wake of the Jaylen Brown trade to Philadelphia, the Cavaliers guard hopped online to call out the narrative building around his fellow All-Star.
Brown has been the target of some ugly takes since the news dropped. Some analysts are questioning his max contract. Others have pushed the idea that Boston is better without him. A few have gone further, suggesting the Celtics moved him because he was a locker room problem, which nobody who has actually covered that team believes.
Mitchell was not having any of it. He posted on social media essentially saying that the way Brown gets treated compared to other stars is different, and that people need to knock it off. He did not name names. He did not have to.
This is not the first time Brown has faced this kind of coverage. He was a Finals MVP two years ago and still has to defend himself constantly. The dude has been to two Finals, won a championship, and made multiple All-NBA teams. Yet somehow the discussion around him always turns into something else.
Mitchell has been through his own version of this. Every time Cleveland loses a playoff series, the takes come out that he is not a real number one. Every time he plays well, someone reminds you he has never made the conference finals. It is a specific type of scrutiny that gets applied to some players and not others.
Whether you agree with Mitchell’s take or not, he has a point about the tone. There is a difference between analyzing Brown’s fit in Philadelphia and questioning whether he deserves the money. The first is basketball talk. The second usually is not.
Brown is going to be fine. He lands next to Embiid and Tyrese Maxey on a real contender. If he stays healthy, he averages 25 a game and Philadelphia is a real problem in the East. The narrative will change fast once the season starts.
But Mitchell speaking up matters. Stars defending stars is how the culture shifts. Too often players stay quiet when a peer takes unfair heat. Mitchell did not stay quiet, and he deserves credit for that.
The Celtics move on. The Cavs try to catch them in the East. And Brown gets a fresh start in a market that is going to love him if he delivers. This story is far from over.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
