"Don’t Become A Basketball Player. There's No Loyalty, There’s No Love" - Jaylen Brown Continues To Take His Shots At The Celtics, While Also Openly Recruiting LeBron To Join The Sixers

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

All I can say is thank God the Summer Celts are about to start because I have to be honest, the post-Jaylen Trade beat has been some of the most painful blogging I've ever had to power through in the 11 years I've been doing this. I've lived through all kinds of trades through pretty much every era since the 90s, and none of them hit quite like this one. The fact that Jaylen Brown is not only trade but a goddamn Sixer is a world that didn't know could exist. Literal hell is now my reality, so that's great. 

If that wasn't painful enough, what twists the knife is that Jaylen is certainly not being shy about how he feels, and as you can imagine, he doesn't feel great. 

As you can imagine, the reaction to all this stuff has gone the way you would expect. Some fans, many of who preferred Jaylen off the team anyway, are using this as a way to continue to trash Jaylen and generally be pretty weird about the whole thing. If you thought the Jaylen vs Tatum nonsense was bad in say, 2019…..that does't come close to what we're now experiencing in 2026 with the duo finally broken up. It's all pretty gross and frankly not exactly what I would call an enjoyable experience.

There's this idea that because the Celtics paid Jaylen a supermax that he isn't allowed to feel upset or pissed off about the trade. That doesn't really track for me. Yeah, they paid the market price as a team without leverage. In 2023, they had no choice but to offer it, so they did. As we now know, they clearly were always planning to move off it, so they said what the hell. Jaylen then won Finals MVP, so I'd argue it was worth the money. I think it's a pretty normal human reaction after the season they just had and the history between the two for someone to be pissed about how everything went down. Remember, we don't know the conversations. We don't know what was or wasn't shared. 

My personal belief is that Brad Stevens told Jaylen that he was in the Giannis offer, but he didn't tell him that the real plan was that he was getting traded no matter what. So when Brad says they communicated, he's telling the truth. When Jaylen feels things went sideways and then disrespected, I think that would make sense. He was OK with the Giannis trade given who he is as a player, but to be shipped out for that return? That tells you he was being traded no matter what, so after the season he had I think that's a pretty normal reaction.

Make no mistake, he's talking his shit. He's adding fuel to the fire and taking shots at his former team and teammates. That is not an accident, and it's a conscious choice that he's making. Again, I gotta tell ya this makes me sick. I hate every single part of what is currently happening. I understand why the trade had to happen, and I understand why Jaylen would maybe want to go a little scortched earth. At the end of the day, the whole thing just sucks.

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And to make matters even worse? I have to see him do shit like openly recruit LeBron to the Sixers

How is that not A.I? I know we tend to throw out the whole "this is breaking my brain" thing a lot and it can be overdone at times, but I truly think this is one of those situations where my brain is legitimately completely broken as I type this blog. We're getting nothing but a processing error as I try to make sense and accept what I'm watching. 

Jaylen Brown recruiting LeBron James to join him on the Sixers?

What the actual fuck?

Sorry for cursing, it's all just a little much.

The fear here is that as the season goes on, we may be in a situation where the bridges are so burned that his jersey retirement then becomes a question. As it stands now, it's a no brainer. Not really sure there's an argument against it. But at the end of the day, it's up to Bill Chisholm. If Jaylen continues to take shots and there's bad blood that continues to build over time, who knows what happens, and that really bums me out. There is no 18th banner without Jaylen Brown. He was part of a duo that won at a level no other duo in the NBA could match. One of the greatest Celtics we've ever seen both on and off the floor. For that to now be at risk is just a bummer. I don't know how else to say it. It's awesome that Pierce/KG both went up and have their numbers next to each other. That's something I always wanted with Tatum and Brown, and after the title it felt like a lock.

But now? Now it wouldn't surprise me if we never get to have that moment, and that would be a real shame.