Jaylen Brown Responds to Stephen A. Smith’s ‘Be Quiet Unless You Want a Trade’ Hot Take

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It is safe to say that no one had a brewing beef between ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith and Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown on their bingo card for this week.

There is no doubt that Brown is one of the elite players in the NBA. And if there still was heading into the 2025-26 season, he quieted the detractors by leading the Celtics to a 56-win season with an MVP-caliber performance while teammate Jayson Tatum missed much of the season to recover from a ruptured Achilles.

However, unlike Tatum, Brown has developed a reputation for honest opinions that sometimes rub fans the wrong way. One came soon after their quarterfinals defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers, when he claimed this past season was the one he enjoyed the most during his 10-year career.

The comment received some blowback from Celtics and NBA fans because it came during a year when his team blew a 3-1 lead in the opening round of the playoffs. Furthermore, it says a lot about the five-time All-Star that the year when he was the undisputed No. 1 guy on the team was his favorite. You can add ESPN mega-star Stephen A. Smith to that list of confused onlookers.

During a Wednesday morning edition of First Take, Smith took Brown to task for his comments and being the top star on the first Celtics team to ever blow a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs. He suggested his teammates aren’t overlooking Brown’s comments and ended it all by saying, “He needs to be quiet … unless you’re trying to get traded.”