A buried feud between Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith was unburied recently, with Smith saying that Brown is doing too much talking on his Twitch streams, and Brown saying that Smith should retire in a profanity-laced stream.

Smith elevated the feud further, saying that Brown should be careful about what he wishes for, basically saying that he could expose things that Brown wouldn't be happy about if he dove back into traditional reporting.

As we wrote on Monday, what seems to be really at play here is that neither alpha male likes to be publicly criticized. They clearly both see it as a challenge and a personal threat, and that's understandable: Nobody likes to be called out or challenged. That said, both men have chosen professionals built around conversation and opinions. They both need to be better at handling what's said about them publicly, something that they usually are better about.

I think, for now, maybe a phone call from Brad Stevens would do Brown well. However, I don't think it needs to be an incredibly serious call - yet. Brown has been in the league for a decade and has clearly handled himself well in that time. It's rare to see him respond so personally and vehemently to anything negative, so I think remembering Brown's track record is important.

Stevens and Brown go back the entirety of Brown's career, so a simple phone call and a check-in would probably be the proper way to go about things. As long as Smith stops talking about Brown, I think Brown will stop talking about Smith and go about his offseason.

Should anything escalate further, then maybe the Celtics should call Brown in and tell him that this fight just isn't worth it. But until then, a phone call is probably good enough.

Yeah, this is probably where you'd like to see team leaders step up and call Brown too and let him know that this fight is not worth it and to channel his energy into trying to help the Celtics win another banner in 2026-27. Those conversations may or may not have already happened, and we'll likely never know if they do.

But one of the additional leaders on the Celtics would be well-served to just check in with him.

Oklahoma City Thunder standout Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his second straight NBA MVP Award on Sunday night, earning 83 out of a possible 100 first-place votes.

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was second while Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs was third. Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers was fourth and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons was fifth.

Brown finished sixth. As noted by NBA Communications, he didn't get a single first-place vote and he got only one second vote. He received two third-place votes, 14 fourth-place votes and 30 fifth-place votes. He had 89 total points. Cunningham, one spot ahead of him, had 117.

Despite not finishing in the top five of the voting, it was an incredible year for Brown, as he averaged 28.7 ppg, further elevating his game in the (mostly) absence of Tatum.

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