Stephen A. Smith Defends Jaylen Brown From 'Utterly Ridiculous' NBA Insider Evaluation, 'Stop It!'

While he and Jaylen Brown have been locked in a war of words in recent months, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith came to the defense of the Boston Celtics star.

ESPN's Bobby Marks relayed one sharply critical evaluation of Brown from one analytics person who said the forward is "the seventh-best player on a team." Smith called that assessment "utterly ridiculous."

"Folks be on some b.s.," he said. "Stop It!"

Brown had his say as well:

There hasn't been much love lost between Smith and Brown of late, but even the opinionated ESPN personality can recognize a take that goes too far to the extreme.

Two years after he was the NBA Finals MVP, the questions over Brown's value have begun again after Boston lost in the first round of the playoffs. He also raised some eyebrows when he described 2025-26 as his "favorite season," which coincided with him having a bigger role thanks to Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury.

After they included Brown in an unsuccessful trade offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, ESPN's Shams Charania reported the Celtics "remain actively engaged" in possible deals to send him elsewhere.

It's fair to wonder whether the 29-year-old is the kind of player who can be the first option for a championship team. That's an important distinction when he'll make more than $60 million annually starting in 2027.

But to say he's only the seventh-best player on an NBA team is an exaggeration without any basis in fact. Smith put it in more succinct terms.