Stephen A. Smith and Jaylen Brown are officially beefing.
Smith had a fiery response to Brown’s latest jab, which saw the Boston Celtics forward dismiss the ESPN personality as a generator for clickbait. That did not sit well with Smith, who fired back on “First Take.”
“Jaylen Brown, be careful what you wish for. You really want me to start reporting on that level?” Smith said. Locker room? How the organization might think about you? How the city may feel about you? How Jayson Tatum may or may not feel about you? Sneaker deals? Endorsement deals? The list goes on and on. The season is over, bro. You’re on Twitch trying to do what I do and talking about me needing to step away. It makes no sense.”
"Jaylen Brown, be careful what you wish for. You really want me to start reporting on that level? Locker room? How the organization might think about you? How the city may feel about you? How Jayson Tatum may or may not feel about you?" – Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/VUC5cn5klm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 18, 2026
Smith went on to claim that Brown was the one resorting to clickbait by using Smith’s name to garner attention.
Smith is using a well-worn playbook of his. When people have run afoul of him before, he has threatened to use his unnamed sources to make them look bad. Notably, he has never actually followed through on those threats.
It’s hard to imagine Smith has any exclusive information about Brown’s relationship with Tatum, which has been the subject of endless chatter over the years already. The status of his relationship with the Celtics has also received plenty of attention lately. Even if there is something behind Smith’s words, he isn’t really threatening to cover much new ground here.
Smith also responded to Brown earlier in the month when Brown told the ESPN star to retire. It remains to be seen if Brown will respond to these latest comments, but if he does, Smith will undoubtedly fire back.
