Jaylen Brown’s – Jaylen Brown doubles down on what he called his “favorite year” after the Celtics were eliminated by the 76ers, and his remarks quickly collided with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith—turning a basketball storyline into a public confrontation over who gets to define the
Morning shootarounds, postgame podiums, even personal Twitch streams—when Jaylen Brown has a microphone, he uses it. And in the ongoing spat with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, that impulse to challenge, argue, and push back has not slowed down.
Brown’s defenders can point to his track record of saying what he believes, even when it lands with a thud. His critiques of officiating—often described in the piece as “fine-worthy rants”—haven’t always earned him sympathy, especially when his complaints spill over into other topics.
But when the feud turned toward Smith’s headline-chasing style, Brown found something sharper to fight about.
The core of the confrontation traces back to Brown’s “favorite” season comment. From there, Smith’s immediate offshoot went after the partnership between Brown and his fellow Celtics All-Star teammate, Jayson Tatum. The framing that followed was simple: Smith connected dots using Tatum’s absence from Brown’s livestream as evidence the two can’t work together.
Brown fired back.
Smith, in turn, responded again with vague threats to “report” more facts to make Brown look bad.
In the middle of it all is the relationship at the center of Boston’s identity. The Brown/Tatum relationship “always leads to lengthy discussion,” and it’s not hard to see why. Off the court. their personalities are described as different: Tatum is more reserved and quiet while raising two children. while Brown stays busy with his own off-the-court work. That contrast isn’t just personal—it’s competitive.
On the court, the 2023-24 season is held up as proof that the pairing works. Tatum was the clear alpha on the championship team, and Brown was named Finals MVP. Since that title. the piece says Tatum has spoken about how winning a second title. with a Finals MVP. drives him. Brown, meanwhile, has made it “patently obvious” how much he enjoyed being the alpha Celtic in Tatum’s absence. The argument the writer leans toward is straightforward: even when they want different roles. they still want the same thing—another trophy.
Still, the conflict keeps returning to the way Brown expresses his competitiveness, because the public tends to interpret confidence as defiance.
To understand why Brown’s comment became fuel, the feud is traced back to a specific moment: shortly after the Celtics were bounced out of the first round of the playoffs. The elimination came after Boston lost its third straight at home in Game 7 against the 76ers.
That’s when Brown’s words landed.
“I mean, we blew a 3-1 lead, and yeah — we lost in the first round. We didn’t win a championship,” said Brown. “But the amount of growth. the expectations that these same [critics] have for us. is why this was my favorite year. because I got to see it in practice … The expectations for this team was to fail. The expectation was the team [would] be nothing, just to give in and to quit. And this team did the exact opposite. We fought every single day. We fought for everything.“.
“I’m not making no excuses. Obviously. the result — we’re not satisfied with the result … But to fight and maneuver through adversity and grow and galvanize with a bunch of guys and have that mind-set and approach. this was my favorite year. I wouldn’t say by far. By far would be a stretch. because obviously winning the championship is great. but I’m telling y’all. this was my favorite season.”.
The criticism around the word “favorite” arrives quickly. The article lists the interpretations that followed: it suggested Brown valued his own success over the team, implied he couldn’t share the spotlight, and even pointed to the idea that he wanted out of Boston.
But the writer pushes back on those readings. In this telling, “favorite” wasn’t an escape from team responsibility—it was an argument about what the Celtics accomplished over the regular season.
The piece asks a blunt question: did Boston really fail as badly as critics expected?. It points to how the Celtics earned the No. 2 seed in the East. It also ties that outcome to major disruption early in the season. including that Tatum was out with a torn Achilles tendon. And it links the team’s road to that seed to the salary cap’s second apron forcing the departures of Jrue Holiday. Kristaps Porzingis. and Al Horford.
Brown, the article says, “loves nothing better than proving doubters wrong.” That’s presented as the heart of why the season mattered to him: not because Tatum wasn’t there, and not because the playoffs ended in disappointment—but because the team exceeded what critics assumed they could do.
The matchup with Smith, in this account, becomes the latest stage of a larger clash over credibility and entertainment.
When Smith trades what the writer describes as “journalistic chops” for entertainment, the feud stops being only about basketball. It becomes about who gets to define what Brown meant, and who gets punished for saying it out loud.
And for Brown, the piece suggests, that may be the point.
Because even if Brown sometimes puts a bigger target on himself through his delivery, there’s a case here that his message still fits the facts: a team that faced injuries and departures still achieved enough to earn No. 2 in the East, even if it fell short later.
Right now, the Celtics story has moved on to the questions that follow every playoff exit—who is to blame, and what changes next.
After the season ends, the article’s closing section points readers to the Celtics fall to the Sixers: Who is to blame? breakdown by the paper’s reporters Ben Volin, Chad Finn, and Gary Washburn, along with what needs to be done for success next year.
Tara Sullivan is the columnist associated with the piece.
Jaylen Brown Stephen A. Smith ESPN feud Celtics Jayson Tatum favorite year 76ers Game 7 3-1 lead Finals MVP torn Achilles No. 2 seed NBA playoffs