A lot has been made about Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown and his future with the defending Eastern Conference champions.
With Boston facing elimination in Game 6 against the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday evening, this talk will continue to pick up. Brown, 26, earned Second-Team All-NBA honors this season. It sets into motion the possibility that he can earn a super-max extension worth $295 million over five years during the summer.
The former first-round pick out of Cal-Berkeley will become a free agent after the 2023-24 season if he does not sign this extension after the playoffs come to an end. The backdrop here has been a frustrated Brown opening up about the situation in Boston.
“I don’t know. As long as I’m needed. It’s not up to me. We’ll see how they feel about me over time and I feel about them over time. Hopefully, whatever it is, it makes sense. But I will stay where I’m wanted. I will stay where I’m needed and treated correct,” Brown about his future with the Celtics back in March.
More recently, Brown has displayed frustration with playing second fiddle to Jayson Tatum in Boston. Following the Celtics’ Game 4 loss to Philadelphia, Brown opened up about the lack of opportunities.
“I guess I gotta demand the ball a little bit more,” Brown said after the game. “I thought good things happened when I had it in my hands.”
Brown took a combined three shots in the fourth quarter and overtime in that narrow loss to Philadelphia.
It’s pretty clear that Brown believes he can be a No. 1 option on a contending team. That’s simply not going to happen with Tatum on the same roster as him, especially in Boston.
Jayson Tatum contract and impact on Jaylen Brown
By virtue of earning All-NBA First-Team honors, Tatum is eligible to sign a super-max extension himself worth $318 million over five years. This would mean a $613 million commitment to two players moving forward for the Celtics.
One of the reasons Boston was able to bring in Malcolm Brogdon last summer while retaining the likes of Al Horford was Brown’s below-market rookie contract.
- Jaylen Brown contract: 4 years, $106.33 million
Brown signed this deal when he was first eligible immediately ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season. Since then, his game has taken off big time. The wing is averaging 23.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 6.3 APG since signing this extension. In the three seasons prior to the max deal, Brown averaged 11.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.3 APG.
Boston showed faith in Brown’s progression when it signed him to the deal in the first place. Will it up the ante with the financial stakes now much higher?
For Brown, it’s clear that the wing believes he’s morphed into a franchise cornerstone. The question here is whether the Celtics value him at the level of $59 million annually with Tatum likely to earn nearly $64 million on a per-year basis.
Related: Jaylen Brown says some Boston Celtics fans can be ‘extremely toxic’
Will results of NBA Playoffs play a role for Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics?
Brown has been his normally productive and efficient self during the Eastern Conference Semifinals despite Boston heading into Game 6 facing elimination.
- Jaylen Brown stats (76ers series): 23.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 57% shooting, 43% 3-point
On the other hand, Tatum has been much less efficient (46% shooting, 31% 3-point). Despite this, Tatum has put up 22 more shots through the first five games of the series.
This goes into the crux of the issue when it comes to the Brown-Tatum dynamic in Boston. The two worked extremely well together en route to leading the Celtics to the NBA Finals a season ago. It has not necessarily been the same story, especially with Boston now on the verge of elimination in the conference semifinals.
Winning cures all ills in the NBA. Losing in premature fashion magnifies issues. We’ve seen this with superstar-led teams in the past. Just look at the pre-trade deadline iteration of the Brooklyn Nets before both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were dealt.
For Brown, this frustration could boil over if the Celtics are eliminated by the rival 76ers this week. It’s frustration that has been there since he was the subject of trade rumors involving the aforementioned Durant dating back to last July.
“[KD] and JT are friends. They was working out together and whatnot,” Brown said back in March. “So, I wasn’t sure what the energy was. I wasn’t sure what the direction of the organization was.”
All of these frustrations and issues could come into play should Boston fall short of its ultimate goal this season. It’s something that has been repeated over and over again around the Association in recent years. Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics — despite their success together — are not immune from it.
This is what makes Game 6 in Philadelphia so important. A loss wouldn’t just be the end of a disappointing season, it could represent the culmination of a union that seemed destined for long-term success and multiple title runs.