Brad Stevens Responds to Jaylen Brown Rumors of ‘Frustrations' With Celtics

After holding a 3-1 series lead, the Boston Celtics suffered a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers, who stormed back to win three games in a row and advance to the next round.

Jaylen Brown, who led his team in scoring and tried to do his all to get a Celtics’ Game 7 win, seemingly shook things up with the postgame remarks he made. That included claims that Embiid was “flopping around” and the officiating may have been lopsided, which resulted in a $50,000 fine for Boston’s All-Star.

It didn’t stop there, as others weighed in on Brown’s remarks, including Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady, who may have rocked the boat a bit more, suggesting on a podcast that he’d heard Brown wasn’t happy with the Celtics’ organization.

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“I think his frustration lies deeply in the organization that we don’t really have the details to … There’s just been a lot of stuff that I’ve been hearing, just going on with the Boston organization with JB,” McGrady said to friend Vince Carter during their chat.

T-Mac, who is a close friend and mentor of Brown’s, suggested that the Celtics star showed much more of what he’s capable of this past season, including his leadership, without Jayson Tatum around for most of the season due to injury.

Brown was considered at least in the conversation for an NBA Most Valuable Player candidate at various times during the season, as he clearly kept this team in contention. Once Tatum returned, they secured the No. 2 seed in the postseason but were unable to advance as far as most expected.

And it seems Brown’s rumored “frustrations” were never discussed between him and Celtics general manager Brad Stevens, who recently addressed the topic.

According to Stevens’ comments, when he spoke with Brown “a little bit” earlier this week, their conversation “was nothing but positive,” and Brown didn’t express any of those “frustrations” to him.

“Obviously, I love JB, and everybody around here loves JB. You know, I think just like any of our other guys as we get to the end of the season, I’ll be here, and my door’s always open, and if anybody ever wants to come in and talk about it, and talk about the team, their place, whatever it may be, I’m all ears,” Steven told reporters.

In addition to Brown’s postgame remarks, he also went on a live-stream video to talk about the past season, calling it his “favorite year” so far in his career. Brown referenced that he had a team around him ready to fight and go to war, which made it especially great for him.

The rumors about frustrations arrive as the Celtics will certainly head into this offseason with a big decision. There is speculation they could be part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, and some have suggested Brown, along with other assets, would be included in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks.

It definitely seems like he has immense value after a season in which he really carried this Celtics squad to a 56-26 record and a No. 2 seed that many critics didn’t expect months ago.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 12:13 PM.