Brian Scalabrine has already started to retreat from the claim that lit up the Celtics conversation this week.
On Monday, the former Boston forward said Jaylen Brown had pushed for an offseason trade and even narrowed his destination down to the Milwaukee Bucks. That was the loud part of the story. The softer correction came right after.
“To be fair, after the 48 calls I fielded today, and I listened, he technically-technically-didn't demand to be traded,” said Scalabrine.
He said he had flattened a more complicated situation into something cleaner than it really was.
“I just summed it all up. I summed up the entire word salad and kept it simple, but I think that's what kind of got me in trouble.”
Scalabrine admitted he didn’t have the full picture and said he should have handled the details with more care.
“I have no idea. I don't know what the ultimatum was or the demands or whatever it was,” added Scalabrine, who won a ring with the Celtics in 2008.
“I didn't get to the bottom of all of that. I didn't even know that this was gonna be a thing.
It's one of those things that lived in my mind for months. I finally used it because we're talking about the weirdest stuff, and now, it's out there.”
The comments landed in the middle of an already messy public backdrop involving Boston and Brown, with the animosity between Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Philadelphia 76ers guard Jaylen Brown spilling into the open. Tatum has tried to stay diplomatic, while Brown has not.
Pretty insane to say the things said today, and then immediately backtrack hours later and claim something else might have happened instead. https://t.co/BVC1OAOIjf
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) October 27, 2026
Boston later dealt Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks, a move that shocked plenty of people around the league.
That surprise only grew because Brown had carried the Celtics into the playoffs while Tatum missed a large part of the season with his Achilles injury.
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