Jaylen Brown is no longer pretending to take the high road with Stephen A. Smith. The Boston Celtics star went live on Twitch on Sunday and let it rip, demanding the ESPN personality get off the network entirely.
“F–k Stephen A. … My offer still stands,” Brown told viewers. “You want me to be quiet and stop streaming? Well, I want you to be quiet and get off these networks, because you’re not using your platform to do real journalism. You’re using your platform to use clickbait.”
The kind of measured response Celtics fans have begged Brown to deliver is, to put it mildly, not what they got. He went after Smith with both barrels. Whether that helps or hurts him depends on which side of the feud you sit on.
How We Got Here
This is the latest round in a months-long public spat between the two. The fight started after the Celtics lost Game 7 of their first-round series to the Philadelphia 76ers, blowing a 3-1 lead in the process.
Brown went on his own live stream the day after that loss and called the 2025-26 campaign his “favorite year of my basketball career.” That comment, from a forward whose team had just been bounced by an underdog after squandering a series lead, set Smith off. Smith hammered Brown on First Take and questioned his focus and accountability.
Brown has not let it go since. He has used his platform repeatedly to fire back, and Sunday’s Twitch stream pushed the feud back into the headlines just as the NBA was trying to celebrate its conference finals matchups.
This Is Not a New Pattern
Brown is one of the most outspoken stars in the league. He has used live streams all year to challenge referees, call out the media, and air out league politics. Sometimes it has cost him. He drew complaints from the league office earlier this spring after suggesting an “agenda” by referees following the Celtics’ postseason exit.
That is the catch with Brown. He is willing to speak in a way most stars are not, and his honesty makes him popular with fans tired of corporate, scripted answers. It also gets him in fights with the most powerful media voices in basketball, and Smith is at the top of that list.
Does Either Side Win Here
Probably not. Brown gets traction with his audience, but every time he steps on his platform to swing at Smith, he hands ESPN’s biggest personality another week of free promotion. Smith does not need to be defended. He thrives on this kind of attention.
The smarter play for Brown is to let his game be the response. He averaged solid numbers this season and remains one of the most physically gifted wings in the East, but he and the Celtics watched the Knicks and Cavaliers carve up their conference while Boston went home early. If Brown wants Smith to lose the argument, he needs Boston to win in May next year. Not just talk about it on Twitch.
Brown is allowed to defend himself. He is allowed to call out clickbait. He is not, however, allowed to let this become the thing that defines his offseason. The Celtics have bigger problems than a TV host.
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.
