Jaylen Brown insists he never demanded Celtics trade, pushes back on 'false allegations' from Brian Scalabrine

The now-76ers star denied giving Boston a list of ultimatums or a trade demand this summer

Oct 29, 2026 at 10:01 am ET • 2 min read

The messiest drama in the NBA resides in the Northeast corridor, where new Philadelphia 76ers star Jaylen Brown has yet to reach the stage where bygones can be bygones with his old team, the Boston Celtics. 

Brown was floated in trade rumors early in the offseason as the Milwaukee Bucks were trying to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo before ultimately getting dealt to Philly in a stunning in-division deal for Paul George. His old running mate, Jayson Tatum, said he was shocked by the move, which Brown finds hard to believe. 

Tatum tried to bury any notion of beef between he and Brown, insisting "this ain't f--kin Shaq and Kobe," but Brown is less eager to move on and said it might not be beef but could be "lamb chops and gravy" between the two former teammates. 

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Amid all of that, former Celtics player and current Celtics TV analyst Brian Scalabrine tried defending Tatum by claiming on his radio show that Brown asked for a trade and actually gave Boston a list of demands this offseason and wanted to be traded if they weren't met. 

Brown's reps called that "10,000% a lie" and Brown was asked about it after the Sixers' win on Wednesday night and elaborated further, via the Philly Voice. 

"Yeah, I mean, I guess it is what it is. I saw that. I saw Scal, he made some comments. Never had any issues with Scal. I love Scal, but I guess he's doing what he has to do," Brown said. "I can understand why he feels the need to do that, but I have no interest [in] letting any false allegations [follow] me to my next chapter here in Philadelphia. Never. I never demanded a trade. Never made a list of ultimatums. None of the sort. None of that is true, but as of now, I'm going to just stay focused on what's in front of me here in Philadelphia. I've got a tremendous opportunity, and I'm looking forward to that. So, I'm going to just leave the questions for another time, but during the season, I'm going to just focus on what's in front of me."

This seems to put this weeklong saga to rest for now, but with the Celtics visiting Philadelphia in less than two weeks on Nov. 10, it won't be long before the questions pick up again about what exactly happened that led to Brown's departure. 

The reason the questions persist is the Celtics' process for trading Brown felt sloppier and more hurried compared to the more surgical, calculated approach that's been the hallmark of Brad Stevens' tenure in charge in Boston. Brown's name surfaced in the Antetokounmpo talks and then never went away, with reports emerging that Boston was shopping him around the league to anyone who would listen. 

Doing that after Brown put together an All-NBA campaign in 2025-26 raised eyebrows, and there has been an assumption around the league that something happened behind the scenes to sour the team-player relationship to the point of no return. 

Brown indicates he'll address that at an appropriate time but not during the season. Until then, the speculation will continue about what went down in Boston.