The NBA fined Celtics star Jaylen Brown $50,000 on Tuesday for his public criticism of the officiating after Boston was eliminated from the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers over the weekend.
Brown made his comments on a livestream on Sunday following the Celtics’ 109-100 loss to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Saturday night.
Speaking on the streaming platform Twitch, Brown acknowledged that he has been critical of officiating in the regular season, and he believes that carried over in how referees called the series, particularly in calling offensive fouls on him.
“Why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda,” he said. “Maybe because I spoke, I was critical of the refs in the regular season. So you know how they responded? ‘We’re gonna call every — you’re gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.’ That was the response from the officiating crew.
“You could clearly tell,” he continued. “I’ve actually spoken to some refs and they said it was an agenda going into each game. ‘Any time Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.'”
Brown was whistled for 10 offensive fouls in the first round, more than twice as many as the next-highest player, according to reports. In the regular season, the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns was called for 65 offensive fouls, with Brown second in the league at 40.
Brown, 29, is a five-time All-Star who won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award when the Celtics captured the league championship in 2024.
He averaged career highs with 28.7 points and 5.1 assists and matched the mark with 6.9 rebounds per game in 71 regular-season games this season. Brown averaged 25.7 points, 3.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds in seven playoff games.
