While Jayson Tatum has refused to comment further and Jaylen Brown wants to leave the drama behind, Brian Scalabrine keeps the ‘meatballs and marinara’ narrative alive. But the players themselves are moving on. Fresh off helping the Philadelphia 76ers secure a 114–109 win over the Indiana Pacers, Jaylen Brown directly shut down reports that he forced his way out of Boston during the offseason.

Addressing claims made by the 2008 Celtics champion and current commentator Brian Scalabrine, Brown made it clear he would not let revisionist history overshadow his new chapter in Philadelphia.

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

Before Brown addressed it directly, his spokesperson had already dismissed Scalabrine’s claims as “10,000 percent a lie.”

Brown’s statement followed a fiery 20-point, 10-rebound double-double against Indiana, which pushed the 76ers to a 4–1 start to the 2026-27 season. Despite his strong start in Philadelphia, narrative fallout from the blockbuster trade that sent him to the rivals in exchange for Paul George has continued to linger.

Brian Scalabrine deserves some credit for that.

Brian Scalabrine backtracked on Jaylen Brown comments

The latest media firestorm began when Brian Scalabrine claimed on his SiriusXM NBA Radio show that Jaylen Brown issued an ultimatum to Boston’s front office.

“My understanding is that Jaylen Brown went to the organization and had a list of demands, and it was like, ‘You either do this or you trade me.’ He was rooting to get traded to Milwaukee (Bucks),” Scal initially claimed.

After Brown’s team denied it and faced widespread pushback and dozens of inquiry calls, Scalabrine walked back his claims during NBC Sports Boston’s pregame show ahead of the Celtics’ game against the Chicago Bulls.

“To be fair, after the 48 calls I fielded today, and I listened, he technically—technically—didn’t demand to be traded,” said Scalabrine. “I just summed it all up. I summed up the entire word salad and kept it simple.”

Simultaneously, Brown and Jayson Tatum had some indirect exchanges. After JB commented a blue cap emoji to call cap on Tatum’s comments about being surprised by the trade, Tatum denied there was a beef between them.

Brown later responded, “He’s got a great PR team. There’s no beef but it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy.”

Scal latched on and ran with it. In the Celtics game against the Bulls, Scal dropped this gem in his commentary.

“He (Tatum) must have some meatballs and marinara going on with the Bulls.”

Next game, right after he backtracked on the ultimatums story, Scal took another shot at Brown. “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,” he said and left his colleague Drew Carter wheezing.

Note: Brown led the league in turnovers last season.

He also claims that Brown is trying to play victim. But after Tatum refused to comment on this matter publicly, Celtics fans grew tired of Scal’s repeated digs.

With both Brown and Tatum refusing to engage in media squabbles, all eyes now turn to November 10, when Brown and the 76ers host the Celtics for their first head-to-head matchup. Scal’s probably polishing his mic for that.