Jaylen Brown has been one of, if not the, most important player for the Boston Celtics this season. After signing a massive contract extension, with Boston, Brown has proved his worth to a team that appears destined for the NBA Finals. But according to a Stephen A. Smith source, his “attitude” is holding him back.
On today's “First Take,” Smith claimed he was messaged by a source who had a take on whether Brown is underrated or not.
“I wanted to read to y’all what an NBA source just sent me,” Smith said. “He said, ‘Jaylen Brown. It’s not so much that he’s underrated. It’s that he just not liked because of his ‘I am better than you attitude.’ He knows it. It’s the same reason he is not as marketable as he should be.’ That’s what an NBA source just sent me. I don't know that to be the case. I like Jaylen Brown I know a lot of people that like Jaylen Brown, but again, when you think of marketability, that was that person was alluding to.”
Jaylen Brown: A Superstar?
Jaylen Brown signed an extension over the offseason initially projected to be worth in excess of $300 million, which spurred along a seemingly never-ending debate about Brown: is he a superstar or not? Brown's stats aren't eye-popping (23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists on .499 FG / .354 3PT / .703 FT shooting splits this season), but he is a three-time All-Star, a 2023 All-NBA player, and one of the best and most valuable players on the team who cruised to the best record in the NBA this year.
Brown is not spoke of like a “superstar,” though, and is largely treated as the Robin to Jayson Tatum's Batman in discussions between Stephen A. Smith and other ESPN personalities. In reality, though, that does not matter because Brown has proven his value to his team and could be on his way to collecting his first NBA Championship.
And while some may not enjoy his personality, Brown has shown plenty of it at times, including after the Celtics' 114-111 come-from-behind victory against the Pacers in Game 3.
“I think Indiana played well,” Brown said. “I mean, we could say that we didn’t play as well tonight, but I feel like they just — you had to be out there to kind of feel them, they were just flying around.
“Then they were shooting the ball well; some of those guys turned into f—ing Michael Jordan or whatever. We were like, “What is going on?’ We couldn’t figure it out.'”
Fortunately for Brown and the Celtics, they did figure it out and erased an 18-point deficit for their third victory of the series. The win gives Boston a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, which, unless the Celtics become the first team to ever lose an NBA Playoffs series after being ahead 3-0, means Boston will host the first two games of the NBA Finals very soon.
Game 4 between the Celtics and Pacers will be in Indiana tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET. If the Pacers can extend the series, Game 5 will be back in Boston on Wednesday.
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