Why Jaylen Brown Thinks There Was a 'Lack of Respect' From Celtics in Wild Trade to 76ers

In the stunner of the offseason, Jaylen Brown is headed to the 76ers after a bizarre end to his 10-year tenure with the Celtics. Boston offered Brown to the Bucks in its efforts to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Milwaukee went with the Heat’s more future-focused trade package.

As Brown came off a career season where he finished fourth in scoring, it was presumed that Boston dangled the star solely because a player like Antetokounmpo was available. When that pursuit fell through, the Celtics continued to shop the star and eventually landed on an underwhelming trade package from a rival to send him out of town.

Boston received Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-rounders in exchange for Brown. The franchise can flip that draft capital to improve the roster, but a lackluster return made one thing loud and clear: The Celtics were done with Brown.

There could be a number of reasons for that. His Twitch streams, his enormous contract that runs through the 2028–29 season or his statement that last season was his favorite. The last potential reason raises alarm bells because the Celtics disappointed in the postseason and blew a 3–1 lead they had on Philly in the first round after the team won a championship where Brown was named Finals MVP two years before.

Mannix: The Celtics Better Be Right About Trading Jaylen Brown

Whatever the front office’s reason, or reasons, may be, Brown is on his way to Philly where he will get to play Boston four times a year. Although the Twitch streams likely brought Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics’ executives some headaches, Brown used the platform to share his thoughts on the stunning trade 24 hours after it happened. He left it all out there as he stated he felt a lack of respect from his longtime franchise throughout the process, wishing it all went down differently.

Why Jaylen Brown felt a ‘lack of respect’ from Celtics through trade process

Although there was plenty of buzz that surrounded Brown on the trade market, he reportedly never asked for a trade out of Boston, sources confirmed to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix on Wednesday night. The franchise’s eagerness to send him packing after a career season where he received second team All-NBA honors made him feel slighted—at least he appeared as such when he spoke on Twitch Thursday.

“Boston packed me up chat. Pack your bags, sayonara buddy. Out of here,” Brown said on his live stream. “I will say I’m still processing everything. It’s a bunch of excitement, disappointment, it’s a bunch of emotions. ... I’m also looking forward for what’s to come next.

“I will say, there was definitely a message being sent and that message was received. I wasn’t thrilled with the amount of respect that was shown during this process. I think there was a bit of a lack of respect. I think it was fine at one point and then out of nowhere things just kind of went left. I think Brad [Stevens] is probably getting a lot of the criticism. I wasn’t thrilled with the way he facilitated some of the conversations, but I definitely think there’s more to it.”

Jaylen Brown went live to address Brad Stevens and being traded by the Boston Celtics for the first time:

“I’m still processing everything, so give me some time… But I will say, there was a message being sent and that message was received. I wasn't thrilled with the amount of… pic.twitter.com/nsAncwb42g
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) July 3, 2026

What he means by there was more that went into the decision is somewhat up for interpretation. Maybe there was widespread belief through the front office beyond Stevens that it was time to move on. Maybe there was a mandate from ownership to get off of Brown’s contract no matter what it took. He said that the sudden nature of the trade wasn’t explained to him, which is why he feels the organization showed him a lack of respect.

“I just wish that the more to it could have been explained to me,” he continued. “Because if the more to it was explained, I think I would’ve understood. I thought I earned respect enough to get that explanation. But obviously I was wrong. That’s life, we move on.

“One thing I wish is that my integrity and my character haven’t been attacked so much during this whole process.”

Brown spoke through a myriad of topics on the Thursday night stream: How he needs to reverse engineer his mindset since the Sixers were a rival for so long, condemning media pundits for using “anonymous sources” and his love for the city of Boston, to name a few. He got in touch with Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe by phone during the stream, who both seeme excited to get to work with their new star teammate. Brown even shared a story that he went to the Celtics’ facility following the trade to test his key card, which was already rejected.

"I went up to the facility, and my key card got rejected. Damn, I just wanted to see if it was real, packed me up, bro.”

— Jaylen Brown. 💀💀💀

(h/t @MrBuckBuckNBA)

pic.twitter.com/ukZjbCA0Mz
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) July 3, 2026

He says he’s moving forward, but there’s clearly some bad blood between him and his now former franchise which we will see play out four times each season, and hopefully in a playoff series at some point. We’ll see if Brown spills any more tea in future Twitch streams while we wait.

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