Philadelphia 76ers star Jaylen Brown’s representatives have forcefully denied recent reports claiming that Brown demanded a trade from his former team, the Boston Celtics, telling ESPN that such rumors are "10000% a lie."
The clarification from Brown’s camp to ESPN came in response to comments made by former NBA player and current NBC Sports Boston analyst Brian Scalabrine, who claimed that Brown had not only requested a trade from Boston, but also presented the team with a list of demands and expressed interest in being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Brown’s representatives emphasized that he never asked to be traded to the Bucks, nor did he submit any list of demands.
According to his camp to ESPN, Brown’s only request was to have some input
regarding his next team if a trade were to occur, and he sought to be treated on equal footing with fellow Celtics star Jayson Tatum during his time in Boston.
In the wake of the backlash, Scalabrine walked back his earlier comments during the Celtics’ pregame coverage against the Chicago Bulls on Monday, Oct. 26. He clarified that Brown did not explicitly demand a trade but described the situation as more of an "ultimatum," suggesting that Brown’s camp wanted certain conditions met, or there could be consequences.
"I don't know what the ultimatum was or the demands or whatever it was," Scalabrine admitted. "So, technically, he did not demand to be traded. It was, ‘do these things right here or else.' And one of them might have been, 'give me the $140 million extension.'”
Brown’s representatives denied Scalabrine's claims in the ESPN report.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Report: Jaylen Brown's camp denies that he demanded trade from Celtics
