NBA reveals punishment for Jaylen Brown for Twitch comments about refs
The first-round elimination was the earliest postseason exit for Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics since 2021.
Turns out smack-talking officials on Twitch comes with a cost. Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown learned this the hard way. The NBA announced Tuesday, May 5 that Brown has been fined $50,000 for comments he made during a Twitch livestream Sunday, May 3, one day after the Celtics fell in Game 7 of the first round of the NBA playoffs.
NBA executive vice president, head of basketball operations James Jones announced the fine in a statement. Brown expressed his displeasure about several specific plays from Boston’s 109-100 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and insinuated that he was being officiated differently from his competitors. “They clearly had an agenda, maybe because I spoke so critically of them in the regular season,” Brown said during the livestream .
“I actually spoke to some refs, and they told me there’s an agenda going on each game, every time Jaylen puts his arm up, just call it. ” Brown said that it was a simple basketball play that several other players do. “Philly took advantage of that and the officiating and it cost us to some degree,” he added.
During the livestream, Brown even replayed film of the plays in question and also called out 76ers center Joel Embiid by name, accusing him of embellishing contact to get to the line. “Flopping has ruined our league,” Brown said. “Joel Embiid is a great player.