Jaylen Brown’s comment on Giannis was recklessly miscommunicated

The Boston Celtics took down the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night, earning a 113-107 comeback win that spawned from a huge third-quarter surge. But as Boston was busy wiping the lowly Bucks off their own floor, some subplots began to unfold, including one between Jaylen Brown and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Early in the second quarter, as Antetokounmpo was backing down Brown in the post, he hit him with an elbow to the chin. The Bucks star was called for an offensive foul, and Boston got the ball. But as the two stars were walking down the court, Antetokounmpo pretended to give Brown a high-five before pulling his hand back.

A huge grin crept across the Greek Freak’s face.

Jaylen Brown wasn't trying to diss Giannis Antetokounmpo

After the game, Brown was asked about the moment, and he called Antetokounmpo a “child.”

“Giannis is a child,” Brown said. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Immediately, the quote went viral. It was spun in a million different directions, most of which were painting it as a diss to the Bucks star.

Antetokounmpo was even asked about it during his own press conference.

“He took offense to it? Why do you say that? He was laughing.”

He was clearly confused, as in the moment, he thought Brown was going along with the banter. But when he was told Brown’s response, he smirked.

“Oh, that’s what he said? Dang,” Antetokounmpo said.

In reality, this is a classic case of the media misconstruing a statement and trying to get a reaction out of two different players. It was clear that Brown wasn’t trying to diss Antetokounmpo when he called him a child. He cracked a smile as he said it.

There was no malintent behind Brown’s statement, but saying the words without the added context of his demeanor makes it seem as though the Celtics star was trying to take a shot at Antetokopunmpo. But based on the way he said it and how the two acted during the game, that almost certainly wasn’t the case.

Even when Antetokounmpo pulled off the joke, it looked like it was nothing more than that—a joke. Antetokounmpo was laughing, Brown didn’t get upset, and it was nothing more than playful banter.

But since the quote was read to Antetokounmpo without any context or visuals, it made it seem worse than it was. In reality, this is nothing.

This is the type of thing that pits two players against each other for no other reason than to try to generate clickable quotes. It's reckless and irresponsible.