Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown made the fourth All-Star appearance of his nine-year career on Sunday. In two, abbreviated games in the 2025 All-Star mini-tournament, Brown scored eight points for “Team Shaq” in the semifinal, then four more in the final matchup against “Team Chuck,” helping his group win the event in which each game was played with a target score of 40 points.

But Brown won another perhaps more significant — at least to him — competition over the weekend. While the All-Star events were taking place in San Francisco, on the other side of the continent in New York City, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) held its annual winter meeting, where elections were conducted to choose three vice-presidents of the NBA player’s union. Brown has already served two three-year terms in that role, and was reelected to a third term on Sunday.

Brown: An Advocate for Player Self-Determination

His role as an advocate for his fellow NBA players may have been a motivating factor in a brief, but positive, two-word message his posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account Tuesday. The message was directed as another NBA All-Star, 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Gilgeous was chosen as a member of “Team Chuck” in the 2025 All-Star competition, so he faced off against Brown’s team in the final game, which was won by “Team Shaq,” 41-25.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored four points in that game. But he is averaging 32.5 points per game for Oklahoma City, the team currently sitting in the top seeded position in the NBA’s Western Conference. In fact, at 44-10, the Thunder are tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for best record in the league. Brown’s Celtics come out of the All-Star break at 39-16, good enough for second-best winning percentage (.709) in the NBA heading into the home stretch of the regular season.

In other words, not only were Brown and Gilgeous-Alexander rivals in the All-Star tournament, they could easily end up this season as rivals in the NBA Finals. According to ESPN odds, the Celtics are Thunder are favored to face each other in the Finals, with Boston having better betting odds (+180 compared to +210) to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

But Brown’s message to Gilgeous-Alexander had less to do with what the player accomplishes on the court, and everything to do with the business side of the game for SGA, as Gilgeous-Alexander is generally known.

Celtics Star Reacts to SGA’s Firing of Agent

According to NBA insider journalist and YouTuber Chris Haynes, writing on Tuesday, “Oklahoma City Thunder superstar/MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has parted ways with his representation to make the bold move of serving as his own agent.”

Brown’s message to SGA was simple. Responding to the news that his fellow All-Star would now self-agent his way through his upcoming contract negotiations, Brown posted the statement, “Love this.”

Gilgeous-Alexander had been represented by Thad Foucher of Wasserman Sports since prior to becoming the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

Why Gilgeous-Alexander felt the need to fire his agent remains unclear. Brown, for his part, remains represented by Jason Glushon and Glushon Sports Management.

But Brown has long been an advocate of career autonomy for players, a principle he put into practice when he declined to sign a shoe contract with a major brand such as Nike or Adidas and instead elected to become a footwear entrepreneur, starting his own shoe company which he named 741, a major decision which Brown described as “a statement about independence, creativity, and ownership.”