Jaylen Brown alluded to some of the injury struggles he endured throughout the season and playoffs, but he declined to get into any specifics. After the Celtics lost to the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, the extent of Brown’s knee injury was revealed as he played through a partially-torn meniscus.
Those who have watched Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, at his best know that he didn’t look 100% throughout the Celtics’ playoff run. The burst and explosiveness weren’t there as he managed the knee injury for weeks before the end of the season. At this point, Brown revealed to CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell in a recent interview that surgery is still a possibility, though that’s still up in the air.
“l got a lot of doctors I gotta get evaluated with — see the potential for surgery versus no surgery, wait to speak to the organization,” Brown told Dalzell. “For now, it’s just rest and recovery. I’m taking a step back from a long season. Mentally, it was a lot of stuff going on.”
Brown’s knee injury is just another unknown when it comes to an important Celtics offseason. The front office must formulate a plan for the organization’s future. The payroll is expensive, so the C’s will need to shed salary. Jayson Tatum’s ruptured Achilles tendon is the main injury fans will keep an eye on as the star embarks on a long rehab process. Add Brown’s knee on top of all that and how he’ll look to get healthy.
While Brown put together a career year in 2023-24, injuries slowed him down significantly this past season. When healthy, Brown leaned into his athleticism and two-way play. He got to the paint consistently, setting the tone physically, all while guarding the opposing team’s best player on defense. But he couldn’t lift the Celtics consistently like that down the stretch due to the knee injury.
The Celtics’ future remains in limbo as it’s unclear who on the roster will remain at the start of training camp in a few months. But, for now, Brown is Boston’s top guy. With Tatum sidelined, Brown is set to lead the team for the foreseeable future. To do so, he will need to be healthy as he looks to capitalize on another prime year of his career.
“The reality is we have a ton of good players,” Boston president Brad Stevens said last week. “That said, Jaylen and Jayson have gotten the majority of attention because of how good they are. And I have full faith that any game that you have those guys on the court, or one of those guys on the court, you have a great shot. And so I have full faith in Jaylen.”