Jaylen Brown escalated his feud with Stephen A. Smith on Sunday night, telling the media personality to retire during a livestream and blasting him as the face of clickbait media. Brown said Smith was not using his platform to do real journalism and repeated that his offer still stands.
“Did he just say I needed to be quiet? Be quiet for who?” Brown said, before adding, “Man, f--- Stephen A. Stephen A, Stephen B, Stephen C.” He later said, “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.”
Brown then sharpened the attack, saying Smith was using his platform to use clickbait and telling him to retire. “Tell this mother----er to retire because he’s the face of clickbait media at the point,” Brown said, adding that Smith’s departure could help spark a movement for more accountability in sports media. “My offer still stands,” he said.
The exchange follows a back-and-forth that has spilled into public view over the last several weeks. Earlier this month, Brown wrote on X that he would be quiet once Smith retired. Smith had already told Brown to “be quiet” after Brown accused NBA referees of having an agenda against him following the Philadelphia 76ers’ comeback from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Celtics. Smith also previously said Brown needed to “be quiet” unless he was trying to force the Celtics to trade him.
The feud has become part of a broader argument over Brown’s criticism of Smith’s style and the media’s role in covering the NBA. It also lands after a season in which Brown carried a heavy load for Boston. He played in 71 games and averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists while the Celtics finished 56-26 and won the Atlantic Division despite entering the season without Jayson Tatum, who suffered a torn Achilles in the playoffs last year.
That backdrop gives the exchange more edge. Brown is not speaking as a sidelined player reacting from afar; he is coming off a season as one of Boston’s central figures, and his criticism of Smith is being framed against both the Celtics’ success and the long-running tension between players and the voices that cover them. For now, neither side looks ready to let it go.
