Celtics' Jaylen Brown Fined After Ripping Refs & Joel Embiid On Stream, Fans Applaud

Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers — Source: Luiza Moraes / Getty

Either the NBA is watching Jaylen Brown’s livestream or someone snitched, but either way, the Boston Celtics forward was issued a $50,000 fine for his comments on the officiating and his claims of flopping against Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.

Less than 24 hours after the 76ers eliminated the Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs, Brown took to Twitch, while the emotions were still raw, and hosted a 70-minute livestream.

During the livestream, Brown broke down the final game and called this year his “favorite year of my basketball career.” Brown carried the weight of the Celtics’ playoff push in Jayson Tatum’s absence. Last May, Tatum suffered a torn Achilles. Tatum would return in March and help the Celtics earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics were up 3-1 in the series against the 76ers, and then the wheels fell off. The 76ers forced a Game 7 in Boston, and Tatum was forced to miss that game with a knee injury. Brown led the team with 33 points, but it wasn’t enough, Newsweek reports.

During Brown’s livestream, he congratulated the 76ers but chided the 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid for “flopping.” Later in the stream, Brown went all the way in on NBA referees.

“The NBA has fined Boston’s Jaylen Brown $50,000 for his comments criticizing the referees during a livestream after Game 7 and series loss in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers,” ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.

If you think that the fine is a bit much, you haven’t heard what Brown said.

“I was complaining about officiating, rightfully so, because our team finished dead last in getting calls, and I was vocal about it,” Brown said. “I got thrown out of some games, et cetera. They keep saying there’s a push-off and stuff like that. You know how many players do that? That is the common play, a basketball play. Every player does it, so why are you targeting me?

“They clearly had an agenda. Maybe because I spoke and I was critical of the refs in the regular season, so you know how they responded? Like, you’re gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls. That was the response from the officiating crew. You could clearly tell.

“And I actually spoke to some refs, and they said it was [an] agenda going into each game. They said, ‘Any time Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.’ Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. I can go down the list. It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not.”

And Brown wasn’t done. He praised the 76ers for the in, but then, around 20 minutes in, Brown went full-on burned-bridge mode on the refs.

“I’m not blaming them, but we had some of my least favorite refs, and I’ll say their names. We had some of my least favorite refs in our last three games, and I have comments on what I think their agenda is or has been versus myself or versus our team, but they fine people for speaking the truth. You go look at the official crews, and it’s some referees that if I had to choose, if I had to say there’s some referees that need to be investigated, just overall out of all the officiating, we had three of them in the last three games.”

Brown didn’t comment on the fine, but earlier Tuesday, he posted on X, “Click bait is like flopping for the media exaggerating contact y’all be safe out here.”

See social media’s reaction to Brown’s beef with the league below.