In a season under the spotlight and lacking the respect deserved, Jaylen Brown is having the best year of his career.
This article is an authorized translation. The original version was written by Nirav Barman and published on Celtics Blogtranslated into Italian by Marco Barone for Around the Game.
Jaylen Brown he never had a chance to be a first option in the NBA. When he was hired by Boston Celticsplayed behind Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford. Just a year later, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum joined the team, and all it took was a stunning Playoffs run for the Celtics to be nicknamed Tatum’s team.
It didn’t take long for Jaylen Brown to be considered the definitive second option, but he didn’t get much more credit than that. In fact, it seemed like the only time he received praise was when opposing fans and pundits tried to pit him against Tatum. Even then, Brown faced excessive attention, constantly being ridiculed for his “lack of left hand,” despite being a four-time All-Star, 2023 All-NBA player, Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Finals MVP and 2024 NBA champion.
This season, for the first time in Jaylen Brown’s NBA career, he was given the opportunity to be the first pick, albeit under unique and also unfortunate circumstances. Some expected it to be a difficult season for Boston, partly due to the sharp decline in talent across the entire roster and partly because they didn’t believe in JB.
JB believed in himself, though. He listened to the criticism and the praise, and left it behind to dedicate himself to an MVP season. Jaylen Brown is having the best year of his career, averaging 30.1 points, 5 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game, all personal bests except rebounds.
Being the number one option also means being marked more by defenders, but that hasn’t bothered him. He is shooting at a 51.0% field goal percentage, the highest of his career, and a 37% three-point percentage, the highest in five years. Increasing your efficiency and scoring output by becoming the primary player on which the opposing team bases their game plan is an incredible feat and a testament to Jaylen Brown’s value as a player.
Now it also seems that his opponents are trying to do everything they can to unnerve him in an attempt to slow him down. JB, who was quite reserved and quiet off the field, has become more active this year. Through live streaming on Twitch he allowed fans to learn more about his life and way of thinking, often talking about what he sees, does and feels on the field. In a recent broadcast, Jaylen Brown called out some of the bad behavior he’s faced on the court lately.
“Trash talking is part of the game. Lately, however, for some reason, the phrases have become really disrespectful… Absurdly disrespectful, for no reason, on the pitch”, he stated. From Brown’s reaction, it was pretty clear that this was something different than what he had seen and heard in years past. However, he also seemed to take it as a challenge, saying: “That shit won’t work. Keep going.”.
The cameras even caught some of the trash talking live. In a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Kuzma was caught taunting Jaylen Brown from the free throw line, telling him: “This is not one of your Twitch streams”. To Kuzma’s credit, the Bucks won the game thanks to one of the best performances of his career, but JB still put in an extremely efficient performance with 30 points, proving himself up to the challenge.
In fact, that was the fourth consecutive game in which Jaylen Brown had scored 30+ points, a streak that would end after nine consecutive games, tying the Celtics record set by Larry Bird. Brown had scored 10 other games with at least 30 points before that series, now reaching that mark in 20 of 32 games played this season.
In the game immediately preceding the start of his streak, a game that ended another streak of three consecutive games with at least 30 points, JB tallied double-digit assists, with a stat line of 19 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds, his first triple-double of the season. Likewise, in the game that concluded his most recent streak, he again tallied double-digit assists, with a final stat line of 23 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown is ready to do whatever the Celtics ask of him to win games and has proven to be one of the best players in the league. When people aren’t willing to acknowledge it, he’s happy to say it out loud. After the initial results of the fan voting for the All-Star Game starters, he found himself in sixth place in the Eastern voting standings, remaining out of the selection. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the process on Twitter, calling it a “popularity contest”.
Additionally, he shared a couple of tweets in which he defended himself. One of them simply reads: “The best two-way player in the League”. In the other: “No one looks at you more attentively than those who doubt that you can give them a good show”. It’s safe to say that Jaylen Brown is putting on a fantastic showing in the NBA this season, leading the Celtics to a 22-12 record, third-best in the East so far.
Despite this, he was snubbed for December’s Eastern Conference Player of the Month award. Jalen Brunson took the honor despite Brown averaging higher points, rebounds and steals with greater efficiency. Not only that, but JB outscored Brunson 42 to 15 in the Celtics’ win when Boston and New York faced off this month. Jaylen Brown once again expressed his disappointment with a simple tweet: “Smh.” He vented his frustration in the half against the Clippers, on the court.
There are still many games to play, but Jaylen Brown is having an incredible year, despite being subjected to unprecedented media attention. As he himself would say, and as he has demonstrated over the years, faith, perseverance and hard work pay off, that is FCHWPO.
