Champion Boston Celtics alumnus Cedric Maxwell knows a thing or two about how frustration between players can shake up a title-winning roster, having found himself the odd man out after an injury shifted perception of his satisfaction with playing for Boston among his teammates. But as Maxwell has said for years, that perception did not align with his own reality as a Celtics player, resulting in his trade to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Now a Boston broadcaster, Maxwell did not have the sort of platform Celtics star Jaylen Brown does now, and could not directly address those issues in such a way when personal appeals fell flat. But after a kerfuffle of a similar sort sparked by Brown’s post-series loss streaming and some comments by friend and mentor Tracy McGrady, Brown was able to tamp down those narratives.
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To Maxwell, however, the fact these narratives exist at all still confounds him, which he spoke about in a recent interview.
May 7, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) reacts after missing a pass from Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) against the New York Knicks in the second half during game two of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
“You look at Tracy McGrady that says, “I’m a close friend of his, and I talked to him. And he seems to be frustrated,” recalled Maxwell.
“So you hear the outside noise, until we heard from Jaylen Brown, (who) put a punctuation mark at the very end of that by saying, ‘This is how I feel about Boston. This is my relationship with Brad Stevens.’ Then I think we really got the final say in it. But people want to make this narrative all the time about the Celtics, about Brown, about (Jayson) Tatum, about these guys not liking each other and not being able to play again with each other.”
“That to me, that’s the crazy part – that you hear and people still keep manifesting that.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Cedric Maxwell does not get splitting Brown, Tatum Celtics narratives