Jaylen Brown has been the driving force behind the Boston Celtics this season. Joe Mazzulla’s team was initially expected to contend for a spot in the play-in tournament. However, stellar production from Brown, along with significant internal growth among the role players, has helped the Celtics rise to second in the Eastern Conference.
Brown is enjoying a career year in his first season as Boston’s primary option on offense. He’s also thrived when guarding some of the best players in the NBA, proving himself to be among the elite two-way forwards in the world.
When speaking on a March 10 edition of ESPN’s First Take, veteran sports anchor Stephen A. Smith declared that Brown’s performances this season should have him in the top two of MVP voting.
“Jaylen Brown is a top-two candidate for league MVP,” Smith said. “There are two road games coming up this week: at San Antonio, and then against Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) in Oklahoma City. Now, Jaylen Brown, that’s going to go a long way towards us looking at you. See, we don’t have to look at Shai. Because when you look at Shai, he’s already the league MVP. He’s already an NBA Finals MVP. He’s already an NBA champion. So is Jaylen Brown. But Jalen Brown was that as a number two option.”
Brown has played in 57 games for the Celtics this season. He’s averaging 28.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists, shooting 48% from the field and 34.8% from deep. Mazzulla has positioned Brown in the ideal role to succeed, while also challenging him to improve as a passer and playmaker, which he has done.
Given how well the Celtics are playing and the expectations they’ve proven wrong, Brown deserves his place in the MVP conversation. Whether he wins the prestigious award remains to be seen.
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