Jaylen Brown gets punishment for controversial comments on refs

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown. Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Celtics' Jaylen Brown gets big punishment from NBA for controversial comments on referees

By Clark Dalton | Last updated May 5, 2026 10:43 PM ET

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is paying the price for his comments about the officiating during the team's postseason loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

On Tuesday night, the NBA confirmed it fined Brown $50K for publicly criticizing officials. The Celtics star said the referees were favoring the 76ers during his livestream on Twitch on Monday night.

What did Jaylen Brown say about the officiating?

"Why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda," Brown said of the officials (h/t Field Level Media). "Maybe because I spoke and was critical of the refs in the regular season. So, they responded, 'You're gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.' That was the response from the officiating crew.

"You could clearly tell," he continued. "I've actually spoken to some refs, and they said it was an agenda going into each game. 'Anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.'"

The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/LY67dkBhZw
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 6, 2026

Brown then called out 76ers center Joel Embiid for flopping, which he previously did in a postgame news conference after a 109-100 loss in Game 7.

"Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in... basketball history, flops," Brown said. "He knows it. This ain't breaking news."

Embiid shot more free throws in his series against Boston than he did during the regular season. He averaged 9.3 free-throw attempts per game against Boston after logging 8.8 during the regular season.

The referees also cut Brown less slack in the series. He averaged three personal fouls per game after recording 2.7 in the regular season.

The officials, however, aren't the ones who blew a 3-1 lead. They're also not the ones who shot 13-of-49 from three in Game 7.

Brown can continue to claim the officials had some agenda on his Twitch channel. But that doesn't change the fact that he and the Celtics blew it, costing the team a chance at its 19th championship.

Clark Dalton

Clark Dalton is a 2022 journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He gained experience in sports media over the past seven years — from live broadcasting and creating short films to podcasting and producing. In college, he wrote for The Daily Texan. He loves sports and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping.

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