Jaylen Brown
Getty
Jaylen Brown is averaging 30.1 points this season
Tasked with enduring the 2025 season without the services of Jayson Tatum, who suffered a ruptured right Achilles tendon last summer, the Boston Celtics were viewed as a dark-horse candidate to win the Eastern Conference.
Some analysts even projected the Celtics to miss the playoffs entirely.
Jaylen Brown wasn’t quick to forget and has proven that the Celtics’ championship aspirations are not dashed with Tatum sidelined.
The All-Star forward is averaging 30.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and five assists, and the Celtics are currently the No. 3 seed in the East.
Given his video game-like production and the Celtics’ status as a conference powerhouse, ex-Wizards star Gilbert Arenas believes that Brown deserves MVP consideration and an apology from the NBA world.
“He has improved his skill level, and you can see it. He has been proving everybody wrong,” Arenas said. “People are too proud to say we were wrong or I was wrong. He is a number one option. He is proving it.”
Arenas added that Brown is in contention for his position’s best player.
“We aren’t putting him in the category of best shooting guard in the NBA or MVP chats. We need to give him his credit that he deserves. Give the man his credit because he deserves.
“We called him Robin but he is playing like Batman right now.”
Entering the season, oddmakers were low on Boston, with some projecting the Celtics for a steep drop in the standings.
Brown remembers the offseason skepticism and wasn’t afraid to call it out in his recent stream.
“They said we was gonna win 30 games this year,” Brown said. “I want y’all to keep count.”
Jaylen Brown Has a Compelling MVP Case
Jaylen Brown
GettyJaylen Brown is gaining MVP momentum following a historic December
Relegated to splitting touches with All-Star teammates his entire career, Brown has excelled in his first taste as the Celtics’s unquestioned top scoring option.
Brown is averaging a career-high 30.1 points per game, which would be the highest single-season average in Celtics history.
The All-Star guard was recently named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, but he came up short in the Player of the Month voting despite a torrid stretch that included nine straight 30-point games.
His 35 percent usage rate is the fourth-highest total in the league. Despite the immense workload, Brown has flourished as the alpha in Boston.
After being picked over for Player of the Month in December, Brown erupted for a career-high 50 points against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Boston head coach Joe Mazulla believes the award snub may have fueled Brown’s high-scoring performance:
“I knew he was going to come out and play with a chip on his shoulder… I thought his defense was tremendous from start to end.”
“That was one of the most complete games I’ve seen him play,” Mazulla added. “After the game, I thanked him. I thought it was an honor to be able to watch a performance like that.”
Doubted for the majority of the offseason, Brown and the Celtics have quickly laid to rest the assumption that are dormant in the East.
Instead, fueled by the All-NBA-caliber output from Brown, the Celtics could potentially make another deep playoff run this season.
With Brown playing at such a high level, a potential playoff run is possible even without Tatum’s return.