Jaylen Brown’s trade from Boston to their division-rival Philadelphia Sixers was the biggest bombshell of NBA free agency. Brown and Jayson Tatum were considered a Top 3 duo in the NBA and already won a championship. Things got rocky this past season as Jayson Tatum nursed an injury and Jaylen Brown lifted the team to 56 wins and a first-round playoff exit.
After expressing satisfaction with his season despite the playoff results, Brown became a target of several announcers, including Stephen A. Smith. As Brown, Smith and Brown’s dad, former heavyweight boxer Marseilles Brown exchanged barbs on podcasts, the Celtics were cooking up a plan to get him out of town and finally found a landing spot in Philly.
Colin Cowherd Says Celtics Traded Jaylen Brown To Sixers Because He Was “Smartest Guy In The Room”
Sports talking head Colin Cowherd tried to explain the trade by saying Jaylen Brown is too smart. Claiming that NBA sources believe the All-Star and NBA finals MVP thinks he’s the smartest person in the room – and the Celtics had enough, as if that was problematic to their success.
Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens was allegedly tired of having Brown question everything.
“I had two NBA sources … Two people in the league, one an executive, one a scout, say that Jaylen Brown has — it’s a disease. He suddenly thinks he’s the smartest guy in every room he’s in … You make a lot of money, suddenly you’re absolutely sure, you don’t wanna listen to your bosses, you don’t wanna listen to consultants, you don’t wanna listen to teammates.”
It was an odd take, considering intelligence is an attribute in any pro sport. They laud certain players’ IQ all the time. Plenty of fans were suspicious as to what Cowherd meant. It had racial undertones that were immediately called out on social media.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell didn’t like it one bit.
“Critique basketball all you want… but disease is insane… we gotta stop letting people just say whatever… cmon man!,” the talented guard said on X.
Fans Smell Something Fishy With Take On Jaylen Brown Trade
“They don’t like black men with intelligence integrity & confidence who are sure of themselves…& who won’t conform …you know the ones who don’t just ‘shut up & dribble’ they can’t stand it…I’m with JB on this one,” one fan captioned above a photo of Tupac wearing a hat made of kente cloth.
“That’s just code for they don’t like that uppity N–,” said another fan.
“A confident, intelligent black man who refuses to be quiet and fall in line will be hated,” added another.
“God forbid a professional Black athlete educates himself and wants to contribute to the conversation. When it was Tom Brady, that kind of engagement was often praised and seen as a sign of leadership. Why is it viewed differently here?” one netizen pointed out.
“White men HATE finding out Black men are smarter than them.More accomplished than them. They only accept our athletic prowess. If @FCHWPO thinks he’s the smartest person in the room, good for him. He probably is,” another user commented.
The comments section kept coming for Cowherd.
“Of course how many NBA players you know have been named the only players to have lectured in Harvard???,” another fan commented.
Boston Celtics Expect Payton Pritchard To Become Jalen Brunson After Jaylen Brown Trade
According to Yahoo Sports, the Celtics are trying to sell the public a bag of goods that —according to reporter Tom Haberstroh — the Celtics are banking on Payton Pritchard making a Jalen Brunson-type leap and filling the void.
WTF?
“The Celtics trading [Jaylen] Brown is a bet that [Payton] Pritchard is their in-house version of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, a diminutive player who didn’t fully show his talents until Luka Dončić was out of the picture.”
Sounds like hogwash on a stick. Only in his dreams could Pritchard actually carry the burden Brunson did for the Knicks, while hitting every clutch shot that came his way throughout an historic playoff run.
Cowherd’s sorry excuse sounds more believable, in fact.
“I’m no Jaylen fan but I don’t like words used here. So what if he’s confident in his intelligence? Maybe he is smarter than the ppl he’s in the room with. What room would he need to be in that he would need to be a subordinate to anyone other than the coach during a game?” one netizen stated.
To which another replied in agreement: “He doesn’t get in trouble. He’s not beating women he’s not fixing games, white people, special white men they are never satisfied and this guy talking is one of the worst ones.”
There was some kind of rift growing with Brown and the Celtics, who awarded him with a $285 million extension in 2023. Now he becomes Philly’s “problem” and will surely be looking forward to many games against his former team.
