SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 01: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics warms up during media day prior to the start of the NBA Finals at Chase Center on June 01, 2022 in San Francisco, California. The Golden State Warriors will play the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 2, 2022. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

With three little letters, Jaylen Brown has the sports media landscape in the palm of his hand.

Brown sent out perhaps the cryptic tweet to end all cryptic tweets on Monday, sharing with his followers simply the following (clears throat, takes big sip of water): “Smh”. This comes mere hours after Shams Charania reported at The Athletic that the Celtics and Nets have exchanged trade offers including Brown and Kevin Durant.

So, the easy call is that Brown is in disbelief that he is, once again, the subject of trade rumors. He’s been bandied about in the past, in discussions for stars like Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis. Perhaps Brown is saying “Again?!”

But this tweet is certainly an enigma. It’s possible that Brown is shaking his head at all of us for believing any of these trade reports are true. It sure smells like it’s more of the former.

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So who leaked these trade offers in the first place? The logical answer is the Nets, in an effort to up other teams’ prices – or, if you really want to get Machiavellian about it, to sow discontent from Brown with the C’s. If that was the plan, it may have worked like a charm.

As of 11:50 a.m. on Monday, Brown’s tweet has about 17,000 combined retweets and quote-tweets, and counting. So this whole thing is destined to become not just the biggest story in the NBA, but the biggest in sports, period. For today, anyway.

Brown is pretty much always the one involved in reported trade talks, definitely more than Jayson Tatum and perhaps even more than Marcus Smart. At the same time, Brown was the Celtics’ most productive player in the NBA Finals against the Warriors, leading them with 23.5 points per game.

So, if Brown is tired of always being thisclose to gone, he has reason to be annoyed, especially after his most recent on-court performance. Still, again, the tweet itself is so cryptic it is truly open to interpretation.

Case in point: Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald is pushing back on any idea that the tweet indicates unhappiness with the Celtics. Murphy tweeted Monday that, according to a source of his, Brown is still “happy” in Boston and isn’t expecting to actually be traded any time soon.

“Source on Jaylen Brown’s reaction to trade rumors: ‘He loves it in Boston. He was two games away from a championship. He’s happy and looking forward to coming back. … Like Kawhi, AD and others on that level, he’s going to be included in every report because of who he is.'”

So if you’re now all-in on trading Brown for Durant, it seems like it’s still too early to get your hopes up. The only certainty is that Brown’s cryptic-ass tweet is going to keep the takes flowing at one of the slowest times of the year.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @realmattdolloff. You can also email him at [email protected].