Jaylen Brown gave his first public comments on the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Boston Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers during a live stream on his Twitch channel on Thursday night. Brown, who spent 10 seasons with the Celtics, spoke for nearly an hour about his emotions and even called some of his new teammates live on the air.
“Boston packed me up. Boston, they packed me up my boy. God,” Brown said to begin his stream, before reading a statement he released on social media that thanked the city and the fans, though notably not the organization. “Boston packed me up, chat. Pack your bags, sayonara, buddy. Out of here.”
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most notable comments made by Brown on Thursday night:
‘Out of nowhere, things just kind of went left’
Brown has been the subject of trade rumors at multiple points in his career, but he felt that something was different this summer. Not only did the Celtics make him the centerpiece of their offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo (who landed with the Miami Heat), they actively shopped him around the league, according to multiple reports.
“I will say, there was definitely a message being sent, and that message was received,” Brown said. “I wasn’t thrilled with the amount of respect that was showed during this process. I think there was a bit of a lack of respect. It was fine at one point, and then out of nowhere, things just kind of went left.
“I think Brad [Stevens] is probably getting a lot of the criticism,” Brown continued. “I wasn’t thrilled with the way he facilitated some of the conversations, but I definitely think there’s more to it. There’s definitely more to it. I just wish the ‘more to it’ could have been explained to me, because if the ‘more to it’ had been explained, I think I would have understood. I thought I earned respect enough to get that explanation, but obviously I was wrong.”
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‘We gotta stop with the anonymous sources’
During the Celtics’ 2024 championship parade, Brown wore a shirt that read “state your source,” a shot at Stephen A. Smith. Last month, when ESPN’s Bobby Marks said an analytics employee of a team told him that Brown was viewed as the “seventh-best player on a team,” Brown posted “state your source” on social media.
On his stream, Brown again criticized the use of anonymous sources, which have been ubiquitous throughout this entire process.
“We got to stop with the anonymous sources. Like, I’m tired of these damn anonymous sources,” Brown said. “Anonymous executive, anonymous source. Colin Cowherd, Bobby Marks, Stephen A. Smith, anonymous sources is saying anything. I think y’all are the sources. And if not, y’all shouldn’t even say it if it’s something that’s this ridiculous.
“But we gotta stop. This is a part of the reason I started streaming in the first place. They use these anonymous sources to hide behind how they actually feel, or to hide behind things that could be controversial, or to hide behind things that are, you know, examples of bigotry.”
‘The Process is back’
The Celtics and Sixers are fierce rivals. Dating back to 1950, when the Sixers were still the Syracuse Nationals, the two teams have squared off 23 times in the playoffs. No two franchises have met more often. Most recently, of course, the Sixers came back from a 3-1 deficit to stun Brown and the Celtics in the first round and win their first playoff series against Boston since 1982.
There has been plenty of bad blood between the two franchises throughout the decades, which Brown joked he’ll now have to “reverse engineer.”
“The hard part is for the last 10 years I’ve been programmed to hate Philadelphia,” Brown said. “From the history of the rivalry, to the playoff battles, all of the above. ‘The Process.’ I’ve been programmed to be like, man, f— The Process. It’s funny, now I gotta, like, reverse engineer, you know what I mean?
‘The Process is back the f— on. We’ve been shutting The Process down for the last, I don’t know how many years. The Process has been over, but now The Process is back, motherf—er.”
Tyrese Maxey joins the stream
Just a few months ago, Brown was going to war against Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the playoffs. Now, they’re teammates. During his stream, Brown called both players and put them on speaker. Neither said too much, which wasn’t a surprise given the public setting, but Maxey did promise to join Brown’s stream next season.
“Chat, what’s good chat? I ain’t gonna lie, I’m jumping on the stream this year,” Maxey said. “You know I’m locked in. Holla at me. I’m in the gym whenever.”
‘My key card got rejected’
Toward the end of his stream, Brown said that he was about to head to the gym, then admitted that he went to the Celtics’ facility after news of the trade broke and his key card was rejected.
“I’m about to go get in the gym right now. You know what I mean? Just to start building up. But hey, they packed me up, it happens,” Brown said. “I went up to the facility, my key card got rejected. Damn. I just wanted to see if it was real. They packed me up, bro. It’s crazy.”
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‘Still was my favorite season so far’
After the Celtics’ first-round exit, Brown went on his stream and said that this season was his “favorite season” as a Celtic. While it was understandable that he would be proud of what he and the team accomplished — he averaged a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists, and turned what was supposed to be a gap year into a 56-win campaign — it was a strange comment considering the team won a championship two years ago.
On Thursday, Brown reiterated that statement and thanked his former teammates.
“Some of the guys have reached out from the Celtics. Some of the young guys. So I appreciate them because it was an honor this year. Still was my favorite season so far,” Brown said. “Next year may be different, but this past season was still my favorite season. The guys that I was able to build with. Those guys that just reached out to me. [Neemias Queta], [Luka Garza], all of those guys told me ‘it was a pleasure to play with you, and I appreciate everything that you helped me with.’ That’s the stuff that gives you more motivation to keep going.
“So I’m grateful, and it was a pleasure. If this was my last year as a Celtic, this was an awesome year,” Brown continued. “They counted us out, they said we wasn’t gonna be this, wasn’t gonna be that, and we showed up and had the exact same seed in the East [as the 2024-25 season]. We had a better seed than the team that won the championship. People dismiss that because of how it ended, and I get that, but the process of how we get there, and the work ethic, and guys buying in, and guys growing and allowing me to lead them and getting it done night to night, it was an honor. We could have rolled over.”
