Jaylen Brown Makes Marcus Smart Request During Celtics Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Chris Phelps | Last updated Nov 20, 2025 9:25 PM ET

Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics secured their third-straight win on Tuesday, jumping to 8-7 on the 2025-26 NBA season, their first winning record, after taking down Michael Porter Jr. and the Brooklyn Nets 113-99. Now, the Celtics have turned their attention to game 16 of the season, once again facing the Nets in the NBA Cup.

Brown is off to a strong start in his 10th NBA season, averaging a career-high 27.5 points on 50.3% shooting, along with 5.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. And he’s doing all of it without All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, who is still recovering from the Achilles tear he suffered in last year’s playoffs. Tatum and Brown remain the two most important players in recent Celtics history, but arguably the third most important is now with their rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Marcus Smart spent nine seasons in Boston before he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the Kristaps Porzingis deal in 2023. The former Oklahoma State guard didn’t win a championship with the Celtics, but he proved his value with his defense and hustle plays, even earning a Defensive Player of the Year award. And over the offseason, Smart chose to join the Lakers on a two-year deal.

Lately, Brown has taken up streaming, and during a recent broadcast, he brought on Celtics second-year forward Jordan Walsh. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP showed Walsh several clips highlighting Smart’s defensive plays in Boston, telling him to “channel his inner Marcus Smart.”

"I have some Marcus Smart highlights I wanted to show you," Brown said to Walsh. "These are some highlights from Smarty, if you want to channel some inner Marcus Smart. Diving for loose balls. Diving to the floor like that. That's what we need. The Garden would go crazy. That's the energy. That's the Defensive Player of the Year right here."

Jaylen Brown showing Jordan Walsh Marcus Smart highlights on stream pic.twitter.com/jbxdsLAVXD
— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) November 20, 2025

Walsh began the season coming off the bench, but was recently inserted into the Celtics' starting lineup where Tatum would normally play. In the games he has started, the Celtics are a perfect 3-0, with the former Arkansas standout averaging 4.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 steals in 16.7 minutes per game.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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