Stephen A. Smith responds to Jaylen Brown's retirement comment

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Stephen A. Smith responds to Jaylen Brown's retirement comment

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Matt Wadleigh | Last updated May 7, 2026 4:43 PM ET

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown and TY personality Stephen A. Smith have been going back and forth on social media lately.

It began with Smith saying Brown needs to “be quiet,” and Brown responded.

“I’ll “be quiet” / stop streaming if you “be quiet” and retire let’s give the people what they want,” Brown wrote on X.

Then, Smith responded with a lengthy post on X, saying it’s not about him, but rather it is all about Brown.

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… https://t.co/R7jHCtMpDI
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 7, 2026

All of this comes on the heels of former NBA star Tracy McGrady saying that Brown is frustrated with the Celtics following their first-round upset loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

“His frustration lies deeply within the organization and other things that we don’t really have the details to,” said McGrady of Brown. “There’s just been a lot of stuff that I’ve been hearing, just going on with the Boston organization with JB.

Brown also said this was his “favorite” season despite blowing a 3-1 deficit to Philadelphia, but those comments didn’t sit well with Smith, although Brown explained it was because of the challenges the team faced.

Jaylen Brown tonight:

“I hate that our president of basketball operations even had to respond to this. Me and Brad have a great relationship. I love Boston. If it was up to me I could play here for the next 10 years.”

He adds again that this was his favorite year of his… pic.twitter.com/BFCTpM7zQ9
— Savage (@Savageboston) May 7, 2026