“My Boy Is Him”: Jaylen Brown’s Explosive Praise for Cooper Flagg Erases Any Doubt of Beef
“My boy is him. He’s got my respect for sure… He scored 30 on us on all floaters. For a 19-year-old? Spectacular.”
Just days after being caught on a hot mic barking that a rookie had “10 free throws,” Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown did something rare in today’s NBA: he addressed the noise directly, cleared the air,
The Spark: A Mic-Reading Moment
The incident occurred during the Celtics’ 110-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on February 3, 2026 . Cooper Flagg, the 19-year-old No. 1 overall pick out of Duke, was in the midst of a historic scoring tear.
Brown, clearly exasperated by the whistle, was caught by broadcast microphones shouting: “He’s a rookie, and he’s got 10 free throws” .
The clip spread instantly. Social media did what it always does: declared a feud. “Jaylen Brown vs. Cooper Flagg” became a trending narrative. Two players who had never exchanged a single word of animosity were suddenly cast as rivals.
The Clarification: Respect, Not Resentment
Rather than let the speculation fester, Brown took to a live stream to set the record straight. His words were unambiguous :
“My boy is him. He’s got my respect for sure.”
Brown didn’t just offer a diplomatic deflection. He dove into the specifics of what impressed him, praising Flagg’s shot-making versatility. “He scored 30 on us on all floaters,”
“For a 19-year-old? Spectacular,” Brown concluded .
Flagg’s Run: No Fluke, All Substance
Brown’s praise lands against the backdrop of one of the most extraordinary rookie stretches in modern NBA history.
Over that three-game span, he totaled 119 points, 31 rebounds, and 14 assists, joining an exclusive club of rookies (Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Grant Hill, Luka Doncic) to post such numbers over any three-game stretch .
Jason Kidd, his head coach, put it simply: “He is in a groove. He is scoring the ball. He is attacking, making plays for his teammates” .
The Competitive Cycle: From Frustration to Flowers
What makes Brown’s response noteworthy is its emotional honesty.
He didn’t pretend the in-game frustration didn’t happen. He didn’t issue a sanitized, agent-approved non-statement. Instead, he modeled something rarer: the ability to hold two truths simultaneously.
During the game, he was a competitor, irritated that a teenager was getting favorable whistles. That’s real.
After the game, he was a veteran, recognizing that the same teenager just performed at an elite level against a championship-caliber defense. That’s also real.
Brown’s willingness to express both—without hedging or overcorrecting—offers a masterclass in how professional athletes can navigate the tension between competitive fire and professional respect .
The Bigger Picture: Passing the Torch, Not Throwing It
Flagg’s emergence comes at a fascinating inflection point for the Mavericks. The organization has fully committed to building around the 19-year-old, trading Anthony Davis in a blockbuster deadline deal that netted Dallas five future draft picks and signaled a clear directional shift .
Co-interim GM Michael Finley was explicit: “We have an unbelievable player in Cooper Flagg” .
Meanwhile, established stars like Brown are taking notice. His public praise isn’t just courtesy—it’s acknowledgment that Flagg has arrived.
The Final Word
Jaylen Brown could have ignored the “beef” rumors. He could have dismissed them as social media noise. Instead, he chose to name what everyone watching already suspected: Cooper Flagg is the real deal.
That sentence, spoken plainly into a livestream, carries more weight than any highlight or box score. It’s the voice of competition yielding to recognition a veteran seeing his own younger self in the opponent across from him.
se words from Brown might mean more than any record he’ll ever break .
The torch isn’t passed in ceremonies. It’s passed in moments like this: a frustrated shout during the game, followed by unguarded praise after it.
“My boy is him.”
Indeed.