Brian Scalabrine took another apparent shot at Jaylen Brown during Boston’s overtime win over Brooklyn, pointing to the former Celtics star’s league-leading turnover total from last season while praising Jayson Tatum for protecting the ball.
During Tuesday’s, October 27, broadcast, Scalabrine highlighted Tatum’s performance before joking about how he could use Brown’s turnover numbers to promote his former teammate.
“Jayson Tatum, not to do more PR work for him, but 34 points, 8 assists, 16 to 20 at the line, zero turnovers. Zero turnovers. A big fat zero turnovers for number zero,” Scalabrine said.
He then added: “Now, if I was doing PR work for Jayson Tatum, I would remind everybody who led the league in turnovers last year. But I’m not doing that. Be careful. It’s too easy. It actually is too easy. Hey. I’m not going down that road again.”
Brown led the NBA with 259 turnovers during the 2025-26 regular season, narrowly ahead of Luka Doncic, who recorded 255. Deni Avdija ranked third with 253, followed by Kevin Durant with 246 and James Harden with 245.
The remark comes amid a public dispute over Brown’s departure from Boston. Scalabrine said Monday that Brown had presented the Celtics with a list of demands and wanted to be traded to Milwaukee. Brown’s representative denied the claims, calling them “10000% a lie.”
The representative said Brown never requested a trade to Milwaukee. After a potential deal involving Giannis Antetokounmpo fell through and Boston informed Brown he would be traded anyway, his only request was to have input on his destination. The representative also said Brown wanted to be treated equally with Tatum during their time together.
Scalabrine later clarified that Brown had not technically demanded a trade, while maintaining that he had presented demands to the organization. He acknowledged he did not know the specifics, suggesting a $140 million contract extension might have been among them.
Boston traded Brown to Philadelphia on July 6, receiving Paul George, first-round picks in 2028 and 2031, and second-round selections in 2028 and 2030.
The split has also fueled discussion about Brown’s relationship with Tatum after nine seasons as teammates. Tatum said he was caught off guard by the trade, while Brown posted a blue hat emoji on Instagram, commonly used to call someone a liar. Tatum denied any animosity and said he would welcome a direct conversation.
Brown has downplayed the prospect of a serious feud, saying both players have plenty to focus on with their new teams. He is averaging 20.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists through four games with Philadelphia.
