Jaylen Brown called the 2025-26 season his “favorite.”
Taking into account that the Celtics were bounced from the first round of the playoffs — after blowing a 3-1 series lead — Stephen A. Smith believes this is a preposterous notion.
The Boston star is not only sticking by his words, but calling out the ESPN talking head by telling him to hang up the microphone and “retire.”
Brown claimed officials have an “agenda” against him on a livestream — for which he was later fined $50,000 by the NBA — after the Celtics’ elimination at the hands of the 76ers.
On a stream Wednesday, Brown stood by his words.
“I say this and I stand on this again. Clip this up. This was my favorite season of my career,” Brown added. “Like, I will say it even louder. I stand on it. I triple down, quadruple down, whatever y’all want me to say.”
Brown clarified that it was his “favorite” because his teammates around him grew and had a largely successful season despite many pundits picking against the Celtics from the outset.
Smith, talking on “First Take” on Thursday, couldn’t believe that someone like Brown, who plays for a storied franchise like the 18-time NBA champion Celtics, could consider this season a favorite.
“The first order of business is that he needs to be quiet, and like [Kendrick Perkins] said, go on vacation unless you’re trying to get traded,” Smith said.
Brown reshared the clip on his X account and told Smith in no uncertain terms that he does not intend to be quiet.
“I’ll ‘be quiet’ / stop streaming if you ‘be quiet’ and retire let’s give the people what they want,” Brown wrote.
Smith replied to the post and said why he has “love” for Brown, he was just trying to offer advice after what was a tough end to Boston’s season.
“Bro, I got love for you so I’m not going to even go there,” Smith wrote on X. “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 season is the season he’s home in the FIRST ROUND. This is not about ME. It’s about YOU….and what YOU SAID. Enjoy your offseason.”
Brown, without the benefit of having Jayson Tatum, who missed the Game 7 loss with a leg issue, scored 33 points on 44.4 percent shooting from the field with nine rebounds and four assists.
He said on his livestream Wednesday that any perceived rift between him and the Celtics is unfounded, and he felt bad that president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was asked questions about it earlier in the day.
“I hate that our president of basketball operations even had to respond to this,” Brown said. “Me and Brad have a great relationship. I love Boston. And if it was up to me I could play in Boston for the next 10 years.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
