The 2023-24 NBA season ended by putting a smile on Jaylen Brown‘s face. All the questions about his inabilities were answered with the championship title as well as the Finals MVP. And all that brilliance for what? Criticism? A snub from the national team? That’s not how it is supposed to be for Brown. So Jaylen Brown finally broke the silence over the negative narrative surrounding him, which led him straight to Stephen A. Smith. Following JB’s declaration on the Hot Ones, it was the turn of the ESPN analyst to make himself crystal clear.

“I definitely intend for it to happen,” Smith told his co-host on First Take when Jaylen Brown’s recent comments made headway on the show. He said it made him happy to know that Brown too wanted to have “a real discussion. This is a good brother. This is an educated brother. He’s got a lot of things going for him.”

While underlining Brown’s achievements in the previous season, Smith took a sly dig at the swingman by saying that he should have been in Team USA on their Olympic journey. The ever-vocal Smith continued to add that Brown should be getting multiple endorsements because of his on-court supremacy and character. However, he highlighted that there are numerous factors which are held against him.

“And when you bring that stuff up, a lot of times people try to kill the messenger. I don’t root against folks. I root for them,” Smith said. He further clarified that he has no personal agendas, rather he likes to call a spade a spade. In case, someone’s in Smith’s bad books, then the person is well-informed about that.

Smith emphasized that he was just reporting the data he had collected from a third party earlier which started the altercation. He said, “I can’t wait to have that kind of conversation with him so he can fully understand where I was coming from and where I’m still coming from about his greatness and what he deserves and how it pales significantly into pair into in comparison to what he’s actually getting from the outside world because of one thing or another.” The 56-year-old looks forward to having a proper conversation so that there remains no misinterpretation between the two.

This came after Smith’s comment on Brown during the 2024 playoff tournament. “He’s just not liked because of his ‘I am better than you’ attitude. He knows it. It’s the same reason he is not as marketable as he should be.” The analyst then quickly added that it wasn’t him who believed that but an NBA source had informed him. So when the chance came for JB to respond to Stephen A., he obliged.

After calling out SAS to state his sources, this time Brown said, “I look forward to, like, clearing up some misconceptions and, addressing some things in the past,” JB said. This happened during the latest episode of the YouTube series, Hot Ones. Will the duo sit down to hash out their differences? With the NBA season approaching, the prospect cannot be overlooked. But that needs to wait as Brown is super busy leading the Cs to the preseason games for now.

Jaylen Brown and Co. begin their preseason journey with a W

It’s finally time to catch your favorite NBA stars stepping back on the hardwood as the preseason games begin. First up was the Celtics and Nuggets showcasing their actions on Abu Dhabi soil. The night started with Jaylen Brown charming the Etihad Arena crowd with his greeting in Arabic. And his “Assalamu Alaykum” received a loud cheer from the courtside fans. Then the reigning champions set the court on fire.

The passion with which Brown played in the nineteen minutes made it seem like no one had told him that it was a preseason game and not a regular season game. Besides helping his team with two assists and rebounds each, Brown contributed eight points while Payton Pritchard scored the most points. The 6’1″ player bagged 21 points. On the flip side, Nikola Jokic displayed his brilliance in just seventeen minutes with eight insane rebounds and 14 points.

Despite taking the lead in the opening quarter, the Nuggets lost 103-107. The two teams will meet again on October 6 and hopefully, this time the Westerners won’t disappoint their fans.