Austin Rivers Calls Out Media For Jaylen Brown ‘Smear Campaign’ Using Anonymous Sources

Austin Rivers came out in defense of Jaylen Brown amidst the negativity surrounding him.

Austin Rivers Calls Out Media For Jaylen Brown ‘Smear Campaign’ Using Anonymous Sources

Jaylen Brown and Austin Rivers (Image credits: FirstSportz)

Jaylen Brown has finally seen his 10-year spell with the Boston Celtics come to an end. After leading the Celtics to a second place finish in the Eastern Conference standings last season, Brown was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers after his failed move to Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

During the whole trade saga surrounding the former Finals MVP, there have been some negative narratives spread about him by the media.

Former NBA star Austin Rivers, however, has come out in support of Brown and called out the media for starting a smear campaign against him.

Enough of the “anonymous sources”. Y’all are weak for that. And the reporters putting that out there are no better (you know who you are, I got a long list of them, I know them personally). This Jaylen Brown smear campaign is wack!!! The guy is one of our game’s best!!! He competes and busts his a** every game! On both sides of the floor, he gets after it!! Who cares what he says on a damn stream (within reason)!! Does he play and do his job well? The answer is undoubtedly YES!!!

Austin Rivers wrote on Instagram

At the moment, it is a no brainer that the real winners from the Jaylen Brown trade are the 76ers. The Celtics traded him away for a 35-year-old Paul George and some picks.

While the move was a surprise to Brown as well, several journalists began spreading false narratives about him. The journalists have often cited “anonymous sources” as a way of getting away with their opinions. Brown even took to social media to call out Bobby Marks after he said an anonymous “analytics guy” viewed him as the “seventh-best player” in a team.

Austin Rivers joined a list of personalities who showed support for Brown after the alleged smear campaign by the media. Donovan Mitchell, Emmanuel Acho, Shannon Sharpe and several others came out in defense of Brown over the last few days.

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Jaylen Brown’s trade to the Philadelphia 76ers does not make sense to Austin Rivers

Brown has achieved a lot of success during his time in Boston. After failing to trade him in 2022 for Kevin Durant, Brown went on to lead the Celtics to two NBA Finals, winning a championship in 2024 and was named the Finals MVP. Hence, it was disappointing and shocking to see the organization trade away their star player despite its failed move for Antetokounmpo.

Jaylen Brown with his trophies
Jaylen Brown with his trophies (Image via Musicanbuilds/X)

After calling out the media, Austin Rivers called out the Celtics for pulling off a trade that made no sense.

This is no reflection on Brad Stevens or Celtics front office either…they’re one of the best around. But this trade doesn’t make sense….and the Celtics were still in position to contend with that star studded nucleus (White, Pritchard, Brown, Tatum) etc. If your team’s in contention, salary cap issues shouldn’t be on the menu.

Austin Rivers added

Brown was coming off his best season in terms of individual numbers this year. He came sixth in the MVP race and was undoubtedly one of the best two-way players in the league last season.

Paul Pierce calls the stuff coming out about Jaylen Brown as ridiculous

Brown has never shied away from speaking his mind, especially on his live streams. He does not hesitate to give out his unfiltered opinions and has called out things for what it is.

Former NBA champion and Celtics legend Paul Pierce found the stuff about Brown coming out of the media to be ridiculous.

I’ve been around the league. I’ve been in the league and I watched even as I’ve been gone about certain guys are just locker room cancers, drug problems. Like those is real problems to get a guy off your team, right? Like come on, man. Like the stuff we talk about, oh, he streamed. Maybe he shouldn’t stream. Like I mean he don’t have no domestic case, no DUIs, no like think about the stuff that get guys traded.

Paul Pierce said on No Fouls Given

The President of Operations for the Celtics, Brad Stevens, revealed that they traded away Brown due to their salary cap. End of the day, the front office prioritized Jayson Tatum over Brown.

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