Star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has not been a fan of how his game has been officiated since being drafted by the Celtics in 2016. And things have been especially fraught of late, with the unfriendly whistle the Georgia native has been getting in the 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs first round not a minor part of what went wrong for the Celtics in their series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

One can point to the fact that refs call postseason games tighter on some issues, and looser on physicality when hearing Brown’s complaints, but he also made a case for unequal treatment by the officials given what he saw from his opponents in the first round. Praising the skill of Sixers big man Joel Embiid, the Cal alum made a point of noting his tendency to sell contact on a recent Twitch stream. “This ain’t breaking news,” said Brown. “It is what it is.”

His use of his arm to create space got him into hot water with the refs in particular, which he took issue with given what he saw across the court. “If you’re going to call push-offs, call that,” said Brown. “Same move. Same refs. Oh, it’s nothing? It’s play on, right? But you’re going to call me? Everybody does it…but if it would have been me, it’d have been an offensive foul.”

“So why are you targeting me?” asked the Celtics star. “It clearly had an agenda. Maybe because I had spoken, I was critical of the refs in the regular season. So, how they responded: ‘We’re going to call every (possible foul) … you’re going to lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.’ That was the response from the officiating crew.”

“You could clearly tell. And I actually spoke to some refs, and they said it was an agenda going into each game. So, anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it. Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. I can go down the list.”