Boston Celtics Star Gets Honest About Relationship With Marcus Smart

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The Boston Celtics knew they were trading their vocal leader when they dealt Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a trade that brought a talent upgrade for Boston, but definitely left a void in the locker room. While Smart is no longer in Boston, he still has a strong connection with his former teammates.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown was asked about Smart during Sunday morning's shoot-around and said with a smile, "I couldn't stand Marcus at first... And I love him now. It be like that sometimes. As you just grow and mature as young men you learn things about people, you learn why they are the way they are, you learn stuff that goes on behind closed doors. Overall if you just get to learn people a lot more in this world you can start to understand the perspective that somebody might be speaking from, and maybe you can relate to a lot of their issues and the healing processes can start."
Asked Jaylen Brown about the highs and lows he’s mentioned in his relationship with Smart: “I couldn’t stand Marcus at first … and I love him now. It be like that sometimes.”
— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) November 19, 2023
Said he called Marcus last night while the Grizzlies were in San Antonio. pic.twitter.com/vlP0d97pzq
Brown continued, saying, "Me and Marcus, we didn't start off great, I wasn't the biggest fan of Marcus when I first got to Boston - [for] a plethora of reasons. You name it. But over time I realized that me and Marcus have similar spirits. If I was going to war with anybody, Marcus would be one of my first phone calls."
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.