Jaylen Brown calls out ‘undertones’ in Colin Cowherd spreading ‘disease’ rumor

Jaylen Brown made his first appearance as a Philadelphia 76er, and the former NBA Finals MVP opened up about some of the bizarre criticism he received over the summer.

Brown was part of one of the biggest trades of the NBA offseason, with the Boston Celtics sending him to Philadelphia, where he’ll now team up with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and the newest star Sixer, LeBron James. Everyone knows Brown can win considering he’s done it before, winning a championship and Finals MVP with the Celtics barely more than two years ago. But some of the media discourse around Brown this offseason treated him like a star whose teams should hesitate to build around him.

Monday afternoon, Brown met with the Philadelphia reporters as the 76ers held their highly anticipated Media Day event. And when asked whether there were any misconceptions out there this summer that especially bothered him, Brown called Cowherd out by name.

“Colin Cowherd said I had a disease. Or his source said I had a disease. I don’t know what that was about” – Jaylen Brown pic.twitter.com/RaeJ6H9b5D

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 28, 2026

“Some were concerning,” Brown said of the misconceptions. “Maybe a little bizarre. Definitely some undertones there. Colin Cowherd said I had a disease. Or his source said I had a disease. I don’t know what that was about. The part about the sources that I feel like is important is you kind of lose the intentionality of the integrity of reporting once that kind of slips. So, I understand, great things come from anonymous sources, but there has to be some type of balance.”

The “disease” report Brown is referring to came from Cowherd alleging a source told him the NBA star had a “disease” where “he suddenly thinks he’s the smartest guy in every room he’s in.”

“This was always – one executive told me – always a little bit of Jaylen Brown’s personality,” Cowherd continued. “Kind of the smartest guy in the room. And livestreaming, and throwing it out there, it’s just not a good space. It used to be ‘nothing good happens after three in the morning.’ Nothing good happens when pro athletes livestream. It’s just trouble. Stay away from it. You need PR people.”

Brown addressed Cowherd’s summer comments, defending his decision to react to things on livestreams because they’re more authentic than anything filtered through PR people. Brown has also lamented the media’s use of “anonymous sources” several times, battling Stephen A. Smith over the journalistic practice. But three months later, Cowherd’s comments still resonated enough for Brown to name-check him on media day.