Jaylen Brown has enjoyed a lot of success with the Boston Celtics over the years, but he admitted to not being too pleased with how he has been used. During an interview with CelticsBlog's Noa Dalzell, Brown stated he has had to make sacrifices for the Celtics in ways that he hasn't always agreed with.
“I disagree with a lot of things,” Brown said. “I’ve had to change roles, styles. I’ve had to do things that other players of my talent just haven’t had to do, and I’ve been okay with them, because I’ve always been a team guy. I feel like sometimes that gets taken for granted.”
Brown has played second-fiddle to Jayson Tatum for much of his NBA career. He also had to take another step back the last two seasons after the Celtics acquired Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in 2023. Adding Porzingis and Holiday, though, helped the team finally break through and win that elusive NBA championship in 2024.
Brown understands that ultimately, one has to sacrifice and play a certain role that they may not want to, in order to achieve glory. The 28-year-old made it clear that while he'd have liked for things to have panned out differently with regards to his role, he is grateful to have won a title.
It's unlikely Brown will be adding another title to his resume next season, though, as the Celtics have undergone major changes this offseason. Porzingis has been traded to the Atlanta Hawks, while Holiday was sent to the Portland Trail Blazers. Tatum is also likely out for the season after tearing his Achilles in the playoffs.
Brown now takes center stage, and he is keen to show the basketball world what he is capable of.
“I feel like I’m very talented,” Brown said. “I’m one of the talented people in this league, on this planet, I feel like. I’m looking forward to showing the world more.”
Brown also recently appeared on Kyrie Irving's 24-hour live stream, where the two discussed his NBA 2K rating of 92. Irving felt it should have been higher, given how great of a player he is. Brown didn't have a problem with it, though, as he believes he hasn't been able to show the basketball world the best version of himself yet.
“I feel like people haven’t seen me at my best because we have a loaded roster, so sometimes you got to do what needs to be done as a team," Brown said. “... When you’re on a team, you’ve got to make sacrifices... Nothing's wrong with being a part of a team.”
Brown averaged 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game for the Celtics in 2024-25. You should certainly expect those numbers to go up in 2025-26. The question is how successful the team will be.
The Celtics have won over 60 games in each of the last two seasons, and it's highly unlikely they'll extend that streak to three. With how weak the Eastern Conference is, Brown should still be able to lead them to the playoffs.
There was briefly some talk about the Celtics parting ways with Brown as well, along with Porzingis and Holiday. Assistant general manager Mike Zarren made it clear, though, that he and Derrick White were going nowhere. It will be interesting to see how far Brown and White can take this team in the postseason.
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