Jaylen Brown Fires Back at Stephen A. Smith’s ‘Be Quiet’ Rant: “You… Retire”

Stephen A. Smith has taken exception to Jaylen Brown labeling his past year as his 'favorite' despite losing in the first round.

Jaylen Brown Fires Back at Stephen A. Smith’s ‘Be Quiet’ Rant: “You… Retire”

Jaylen Brown barks back at Stephen A. Smtih (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Jaylen Brown criticized officiating during the playoffs, calling the past season his 'favorite' despite the Celtics' early exit.
  • Stephen A. Smith challenged Brown's comments, questioning his credibility and suggesting friction with teammate Jayson Tatum.
  • In response, Brown told Smith to retire if he wants him to stop speaking out, highlighting fan dissatisfaction with Smith's opinions.

Jaylen Brown has been courting a lot of backlash after his recent comments about officiating, and the fact that he labeled this past season as his ‘favorite.’ The 29-year-old claimed that the officials in the first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers were out with an agenda after he criticized them earlier in the season.

To this, longtime analyst Stephen A. Smith questioned his hypocrisy. The ESPN star wondered why Brown never spoke up when his Boston Celtics were up 3-1 in the series.

Smith was backed up by former players who also felt the same. So did fans, who brought receipts when the California Golden Bears alum continued his rant on social media.

But the 2024 Finals MVP returned to his live stream to double down on his opinion about just concluding his ‘favorite season,’ Stephen A. Smith was not pleased.

The 58-year-old questioned how it was a favorite year when Jayson Tatum was injured, and the Celtics embarrassingly exited the playoffs.

I’ll “be quiet” / stop streaming if you “be quiet” and retire let’s give the people what they want

Jaylen Brown responded

This was Jaylen Brown firing back at the ESPN analyst for asking him to ‘be quiet’ and stop streaming. The Celtics’ star would agree to Smith’s demands if the latter also retires from broadcasting.

Brown mentioned that fans have been wanting the New York native to leave ESPN, especially as his opinions and takes have become increasingly insufferable. Now, the guard hopes Smith does what everyone wants, then he will stop streaming or speaking his mind.

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Stephen A. Smith possibly irked Jaylen Brown with needless Jayson Tatum comparison

Stephen A. Smith did not just ask Jaylen Brown to shut up about his questionable takes. The $100 million earning broadcaster went as far as to suggest that there was friction between the Celtics star and Jayson Tatum.

Rumors of friction between Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum resume
Rumors of friction between Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum resume (Image via FanDuel/X)

Jayson Tatum hasn’t appeared on Jaylen Brown’s program. You know where JT was? Right here on First Take. So, in other words, Brown, JT showed up on First Take before he showed up on your show. How? How?… You think nobody notices that that hasn’t happened?

Stephen A. Smith said

The analyst went as far as to suggest that people are aware of this and have talked about possible friction between the two top Celtics superstars for a long time.

Now, when Jaylen Brown is labeling last season as his ‘best year’ when Tatum was out, Smith feels it is possibly the five-time All-Star’s way of stirring up enough drama to force the organization to trade him away.

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Stephen A. Smith responds to Jaylen Brown’s comment

Jaylen Brown’s reply was after First Take‘s clip appeared on the platform X. By then, Stephen A. Smith had left ESPN’s offices and usually heads to his personal production set.

Bro, I got love for you, so I’m not going to even go there. Folks are looking out for you, and you don’t even realize it. Here you are making this kind of noise, and it hasn’t even been a week since you lost a 3-1 lead. You’re HOME. A champion and a Finals MVP saying his favorite season is the season he’s home in the FIRST ROUND. This is not about ME. It’s about YOU….and what YOU SAID. Enjoy your offseason.

Smith replied

This was Smith responding to Brown’s message. On one hand, he tries to remind the former third-overall pick that he usually is in Brown’s corner.

On the other hand, the political commentator pointed out again how the 6’6″ star was wrong about his choice of words to define his 2025-26 season. If Brown does not back down after this, it is highly possible that Smith would do the same.

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