Jaylen Brown Had Classy Message for LeBron James and Bronny James

Angel Reese, Kysre Gondrezick and Brown courtside.
Angel Reese, Kysre Gondrezick and Brown courtside. / NBCSCeltics

Jaylen Brown sat courtside at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Monday night to watch the Boston Celtics take on the Los Angeles Lakers. He was joined by girlfriend Kysre Gondrezick and her former Chicago Sky teammate Angel Reese. Reese is in town to play the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday, while Brown is just killing time since he can't get an invite to the Paris Olympics.

If he had been invited to the Olympics, he wouldn't have been in Vegas where he appeared to be caught on camera saying that he didn't think Bronny James was a pro. While that's certainly not a hot take, it is surprising to see someone get caught saying it. And even more surprising is the fact that Brown didn't ignore or deny what he said and instead went online to basically confirm it.

Early Tuesday morning Brown went on X, formerly known as Twitter, to explain what he meant.

"It’s a flex to have your son alongside you in the nba it reflects greatness and longevity! Bronny has all the tools around him to be successful I look forward to watching his growth."

Brown hasn't exactly been living online since the Celtics won the title, but he has been maximizing the exposure of his tweets with short, impactful messages that get people talking. After teammate Derrick White was selected to replace Kawhi Leonard on Team USA, Brown tweeted at Nike saying, "this what we doing?"

Brown has been a sneaker free agent since 2021. In 2022 he called out Nike after they dropped Kyrie Irving and whenever he wears Nike shoes, like these Kobe Bryant sneakers on Christmas in 2023, it's with the swoosh removed.

Saying this about Bronny James certainly won't endear him to Nike or LeBron anytime soon, but what does it matter? He's a champion, Finals MVP, and one of the highest-paid players in the league. He can certainly afford to keep buying his own sneakers and scraping the logo off them if he wants.

As for Bronny, the younger James scored two points on five shots in the Lakers' loss. He has yet to have a performance that would signal that he's worth the contract the Lakers gave him so as of right now, Brown just looks like a truth-teller.


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Stephen Douglas

STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.