“Get Them Outta Here”: Jaylen Brown’s Jab at Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Hart and TNT Crew Broadcasted on National TV

The NBA made a desperate attempt to revive the declining interest in the All-Star Weekend this year with some brand-new gimmicks. One of the most notable additions was Kevin Hart, who tried to infuse some energy into the event with his eccentric shenanigans. But it’s pretty clear not everyone liked the comedian’s gig before the final game of the weekend.

The NBA on TNT crew had a big role to play in this year’s festivities. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver tried to make the event more fun by allotting one All-Star team to each of the Inside the NBA panelists — Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley.

Before Chuck’s Global Stars and Shaq’s OGs took the court for the final game, Hart did a segment to honor the four members of the popular TNT show. He gave jerseys and rings to Shaq, Chuck, Ernie [Johnson], and Kenny, as gifts for contributing to the event. The veteran comedian also brought some fishing gear for them.

Well, the TNT show is well-known for sending the players fishing whenever a team gets eliminated in the playoffs. So Hart thought it would be apt to send them off from the All-Star game with fishing rods and life jackets, considering it’s TNT’s last time covering the All-Star Weekend, at least in the near future.

As Shaq started giving a speech with fishing gear in his hand, Jaylen Brown was seen mouthing the words, “Get them outta here.”

Now it’s uncertain whether Brown just said those words to reiterate Hart’s gimmick or he was genuinely bored by the long ceremony. But a clip of JB mouthing those words went viral on X.

“I didn’t. I don’t know if the rest of the other guys knew. I didn’t know,” said Brown after the event, addressing his rant and what he felt about the abrupt tribute of Shaq and Co.

“So that kind of took the gas out of everything for a little bit. We’re trying to be great professionals and we’re trying to do different things and explore, generate viewership. Tonight was us trying to do something different,” Brown added.

Many fans seemed to resonate with Brown’s sentiment that the pregame show lingered on too long and the game was too short. Not many were pleased with Hart’s presence on the show either.

The game format — first to 40 points — was an excellent idea to get the players to be competitive. But the two mandatory timeouts at 15 points and 30 points were too long. It felt like the NBA just tried to fit in as many commercials or entertainment acts as they could. A fan reflected on the frustration in his post on X:

Another fan pointed out how the league focused too much on ‘entertaining’ the fans instead of focusing on the players, who the fans tune in to watch.

Well the NBA can’t seem to win at the moment with the All-Star weekend. While Brown’s Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum believed all went well and everybody had fun, the fans do not think so. And that is something that should worry Silver more going into the future.