Brian Scalabrine, a former Boston Celtics NBA champion and current TV in-game analyst, claimed Monday that Jaylen Brown demanded a trade from the Boston Celtics, then appeared to walk back his story when asked about it before the Celtics’ game against the Chicago Bulls Monday.
The comments land amid a public back-and-forth between Brown and Jayson Tatum, and they contradict reporting from July stating that Brown did not ask out of Boston.
Scalabrine serves as the Celtics’ analyst on NBC Sports Boston and co-hosts SiriusXM’s The Starting Lineup with Frank Isola.
“My understanding of this thing is that he demanded to be traded, not to the media, but to the organization,” Scalabrine said on SiriusXM, as quoted by EssentiallySports.
“My understanding is Jaylen Brown went to the organization and had a list of demands,” Scalabrine continued, according to NESN. “And it was like, ‘You either do this, or you trade me.’ And he was rooting to get traded to Milwaukee, including calling some other teammates about, ‘Hey, man, what do you think of Milwaukee? We should go there.'”
Scalabrine added that Brown “lives in his own reality” and could “make stuff up” about Tatum because no request was ever documented publicly, according to EssentiallySports. When Isola asked whether he was reporting all of it as fact, Scalabrine stepped back.
The former Celtics backup center who played on Boston’s 2008 championship team, walked the claim back even further before the Celtics’ game against the Bulls. On NBC Sports Boston’s pregame show, Scalabrine said Brown did not demand a trade in the formal sense he had laid out on the radio, according to a video of his statements on social media. He recast the demands as conditions tied mostly to money and Brown’s contract extension, and indicated he lacked a full picture of how events unfolded.
Boston Celtics Trade Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia 76ers
The Celtics sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers on July 1 for Paul George and four draft picks. Boston had earlier built a Giannis Antetokounmpo offer around Brown, but Antetokounmpo landed with the Miami Heat instead.
Brown “never requested a trade. He never asked out of Boston,” ESPN‘s Shams Charania reported that day.
Pushback came within hours.
“If Jaylen Brown had requested a trade back in June, that would’ve been widely reported and we would’ve heard about it,” ClutchPoints insider Brett Siegel wrote.
Tatum said in a video on his YouTube channel that he was “just as much caught off guard” as everyone else by the deal. Brown answered a post about it with a cap emoji, shorthand for lying, according to a Newsweek report.
Tatum replied after Friday’s 107-103 win over the New York Knicks.
“I reached out to him the day he got traded. I called him. I texted him,” Tatum said, according to Newsweek, claiming that he never had a “beef” with his longtime Celtics running mate.
Brown fired back Saturday.
“It’s no beef, but it might be little lamb chops and some gravy, you know what I mean? He should stay ready at all times,” Brown said, according to EssentiallySports.
Brian Scalabrine’s Boston Celtics Career and Broadcast Role
Scalabrine, 48, was born March 18, 1978, in Long Beach, California, and grew up in Enumclaw, Washington. He played at Highline Community College and USC before the New Jersey Nets selected him 35th overall in the 2001 NBA draft, according to The Athletic.
He spent four seasons with the Nets, reaching the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. Five seasons with the Celtics followed, from 2005 to 2010, including the 2008 championship, and he closed his career with the Chicago Bulls from 2010 to 2012. Over 520 regular-season games, he averaged 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds.
Scalabrine then spent 2013-14 as a Golden State Warriors assistant under Mark Jackson before moving into broadcasting. He has worked as a Celtics analyst for more than a decade, according to Boston Magazine.
Brown is likely to face questions about it Tuesday morning at the 76ers’ shootaround, according to Sports Illustrated. The Celtics and 76ers meet for the first time Nov. 10 in Philadelphia.
Did Jaylen Brown Ask Out of Boston? Celtics Insider Revisits Trade Claim