“State Your Source.” Jaylen Brown did not have to say anything more than these 3 words to provide a counterpoint in his months-long feud with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. It all started back in May when the sportscaster highlighted a quote by an ‘undisclosed source’, which stated, “Jaylen Brown, it’s not so much that he is underrated, it’s that 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.”

With ample support from fans and former players, the Celtics champion was able to defend himself by claiming that there was no ‘source’ and that Smith has hiding behind his own beliefs through an undisclosed (or imaginative) entity. Five months later, the duo finally came face to face in a possible attempt to put the issue to bed.

With a few hours remaining before the season opener, and the C’s highly anticipated Ring Night event, Jaylen Brown appeared as a guest on Stephen A. Smith’s long-running show. Once again donning the ‘State Your Source’ shirt, they jumped right in. After having questioned the legitimacy of his sources a couple of months ago, Brown made it clear that the attack wasn’t focused on Smith’s legacy.

He stated, “Obviously, your credentials are through the roof, you know, covering AI, to ‘First Take’ being the number one show and now taking the world by storm with your new podcast. So I wore this shirt, but I honestly know just because of your credentials that you never going to reveal sources because you abide by something called Journalistic Integrity.”

Despite this, the player wanted the host to hear him out since he believed that there was more to journalistic integrity than simply protecting your sources. “One, I didn’t really get a chance to defend myself, and two, you know the damage kind of already is done, and I think Journalistic Integrity goes two ways,” said Brown as Smith agreed to the assessment.

“So, for me, I think a lot of people were upset, and as was I, because I understand um journalistic integrity and I understand um how that works, but I also understand the idea of normal integrity as well and I also want to maintain and protect that.” Jaylen Brown’s belief in regards to ‘Normal Integrity’ led him to question Stephen A. Smith about his practices as a journalist, especially on whether the latter carries any ‘dissension’ in the decision he makes.

The sportscaster, however, denied the same, revealing that he considers himself to be a “humane” and “fair” individual. The belief that he promoted about JB, according to Smith, came from the unnamed source through a text message, which was also backed by the claim that “others had said it as well.”

In light of this, the 57-year-old made it clear that whatever opinion the ‘sources’ had come out to bring to him was not something that he believed in personally.

“What I was trying to say was this brother is great, he’s great on the basketball court, he’s great off the basketball court, he’s an individual of very high integrity, highly educated, who most those people that you encounter considers you nothing short of brilliant, and yet these opportunities, that clearly you are deserving of, and should be afforded to you, was not,” said Smith.

“So, when I brought that up, I literally got a text in the middle of the show. Immediately after the show I got 3 separate phone calls, and they were like ‘Yo this guy is not liked by some of the powers that be because he’s smart, because he’s outspoken, because he’s principled and he’s defiant, and he’s not easily manipulated. These are things that are costing him,’” he continued.

“I didn’t look at it as something that was smearing your character. I looked at it as individuals basically pointing out that you’re not liked,” the senior sportscaster concluded on the Stephen A. Smith Show.

Not being liked by big powers is an issue that Jaylen Brown already has been bringing to the forefront for the last couple of months. Most notable were his public tweets that accused Nike of playing a role in keeping him out of the Team USA lineup for the 2024 Paris Olympics. For now, the 2024 Finals MVP was willing to give Stephen A. Smith the benefit of the doubt and put the long-running feud with him to rest. However, this still didn’t stop him from putting to bed any new or existing issues with the ‘source.’

Highlighting details of his offseason, Jaylen Brown uses Stephen A. Smith to send a message to ‘the source’: “I think it’s cowardice”

In a later part of the episode, Jaylen Brown decided to directly address the person/people who had come forward to give their opinion to Stephen A. Smith. Whether to make them jealous or simply highlight just how unbothered he was, the 27-year-old described how good of a summer he had. From going to different places around the world to finally fulfilling his goal of setting a ‘Black Wall Street’, JB was crossing off things on his bucket list. Along with letting the ‘sources’ know this crucial detail, he wanted to address them directly with Smith sitting across him. After all, the sportscaster is the only one aware of his/her/their identity.

“I basically wanted to say to them that I think it’s cowardice,” said Jaylen Brown. “I think historically, unnamed sources have attacked some of our greats, and I/We are not responsible for what they lack in design. Um, frankly, they can call all their buddies, their pals and, you know, friends from all over the world, all the unnamed sources, and they can shove it where they got it from.”

“Whether they think they I’m marketable or not, I walk with god, um I’mma be me, and stand with my community in this life and the next. And that’s my Journalistic Integrity,” Jaylen Brown concluded.

The Celt had not been without any supporters through his ‘beef’ with Stephen A. Smith. From Isiah Thomas to Rashad McCants, several members of the NBA community refused to believe that the ‘source’ put forward by Smith even existed.

However, having been in the business for several decades, two of which have been spent with ESPN itself, Jaylen Brown may have felt that Stephen A. deserved respect. His beef now only stands with the source, whose identity may forever remain shrouded.