After nearly a month of waiting, the Celtics and their star swingman Jaylen Brown mercifully agreed to a supermax contract extension (5 years, $304 million) through the 2028-2029 season that temporarily makes him the highest paid player in NBA history. Putting aside that absurd amount of money-and keep in mind it's not my money or your money-do not get too hung up on him being the richest guy since it will not last for long. When you are in a market like Boston, free agents in basketball are not exactly falling over themselves to come here anymore so when there is a very talented younger guy on your current roster (warts and all), you have to do your best to retain him. Granted, superstar swingman Jayson Tatum is better than Brown-any argument about that ended in the 2023 playoffs-but they are still one of the best duos in the league, last postseason not withstanding.
Brown is a two-time All-Star and he is coming off the best regular season in his career when he averaged 26.6 points per game which led to him being named to the All-NBA second team for the first time (which enabled him to be eligible for the supermax). Jaylen's awful performance in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Miami two months ago left a poor taste in all of our mouths but he is still only 26 years old even though he has played seven seasons with the C's (drafted No. 3 overall in 2016 after one season at Cal). Boston will never be Miami or Los Angeles which for many reasons are the preferred type of destinations for most NBA stars these days. It sucks but that is the reality that we are left to deal with.
Tatum and Brown have an interesting relationship since they are not best friends by any means but they do not seem to hate each other either. More importantly, they play pretty similar positions and styles of games so can Boston win a championship with them as their top two players? That is what we have to bank on since what is the better (and more realistic) option? The Celts have made the playoffs in every year of Brown's career including the NBA Finals in 2022 and three Eastern Conference Finals so an optimist would say that they are knocking on the door of a title while a pessimist worries that they could be basketball's version of the Buffalo Bills in the 90s.
I have always been a major Brown fan for what he stood for off the court and the important work that he does there (minus the wacko Covid beliefs and following Kyrie Irving's madness) so I am happy that at least he will be here for the next few seasons. It would be silly to trade him after one poor postseason since Boston would never get the proper return. If he can just improve his terrible handle a little bit, Brown can be an even better player. There is no doubt that Tatum's ceiling is higher but every great NBA player needs a sidekick (just ask Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray on the Nuggets) and in a perfect world, Brown will smartly accept that role and realize that he and Tatum need each other if a title(s) is what they care about most at the end of the day.
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