“Shai Is About to Win His 2nd MVP”: Jaylen Brown Takes a Jab at NBA Despite $50,000 Fine

The NBA makes an example of Jaylen Brown’s fine

The root of Jaylen Brown’s outrage stems from a massive statistical anomaly during the Celtics’ first-round series against the Sixers and a lot of fan backing. The All-Star was whistled for a staggering 10 offensive fouls across the seven games. That was twice as many as the next-highest players in the playoffs, a group that included Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Duren with five apiece.

Still stinging from the elimination, Brown went on Twitch to vent. True to his livetream style, Brown pulled up video footage of Sixers forward Paul George using his off-arm to push off and not get a whistle. Brown told viewers to see the double standard in officiating in these replays.

“If you’re going to call push-offs, call that,” Brown argued during the initial stream. “Same move. Same refs. Oh, it’s nothing? It’s play on, right? But you gonna call me? Everybody does it … but if it would have been me, it’d have been an offensive foul.”

Brown went as far as to suggest that referees had actively targeted him as retaliation for his past criticisms of officiating, going so far as to suggest that certain referees needed to be investigated. “Every good basketball player does this. What are y’all talking about? They clearly had an agenda,” Brown alleged. “I don’t know if it’s because I pissed the refs off. I’ve been critical about them, and I called them out a bunch of times. So, they were like, ‘You know what, I got you in the playoffs. Watch this.’ [Because] that’s exactly what they did.”

In March 2026, Brown got his second career ejection. He has since taken an outspoken stance on officiating inconsistencies.

He’s not the only one. Devin Booker called it out and got fined too. And only yesterday, Brown’s buddy, Donovan Mitchell claimed he couldn’t criticize officiating, citing his ‘friend’ getting fined. After the recent series of crackdowns from the NBA disciplinary office, Brown and Mitchell’s caution while taking a stand is understandable.

By dragging Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into the conversation, Brown is shining a spotlight on the delicate line between a star player’s “signature move” and an illegal push-off. With the Thunder guard currently favored to win his second consecutive MVP award, Brown’s comments ensure that the debate over whistle consistency will follow the league deep into the postseason.

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