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The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA champions, but Jaylen Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, is ready to turn the page and start focusing on staving off challengers for the title.
Brown told NBC Sports Boston that it's time to lock in for the 2024-25 season.
“Last year is over, to be honest. We celebrated, we had a good time. It's been an awesome summer. I've been having a great summer, by the way. But it's over with it. Now we got the target on our back. Everybody's trying to come after us and I'm like, ‘come on.' It's back to work. And I'm looking forward to next season.”
Brown, along with Jayson Tatum, led the Celtics to a 64-18 record, the best in the NBA, and won all but three games in the postseason. After defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games, Brown, who averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game during the series, was named Finals MVP.
"Last year is over, to be honest. We celebrated, we had a good time… Now we got the target on our back. Everybody's trying to come after us and I'm like, 'come on.'"
Jaylen Brown on him & the Celtics locking in for the upcoming season 💯pic.twitter.com/DyKuF0AYzY
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 21, 2024
Jaylen Brown's eventful summer after winning 2024 NBA Championship
Although Brown won the Finals MVP over teammates Tatum, as well as Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, he was the only one of the four to not represent Team USA this summer at the Olympic Games. Tatum and Holiday were included in the United States' initial Olympic roster, while White was added late in the process to replace Kawhi Leonard, which led Brown to make cryptic posts on social media. In addition to accusing Nike, Team USA's longtime apparel partner, of playing a part in his exclusion, Brown's posts also could be perceived as disrespectful to White for being selected instead of Brown.
Brown said that he reached out to his Celtics teammate, though, and smoothed things over.
“I called Derrick right away,” Brown told reporters during Summer League in Las Vegas. “Just to make sure there's no confusion, my love for you and all of that. He knew that, and he did. You don't always gotta make everything public. Me and D-White are good.”
Although Brown and White are apparently fine, the relationship between Brown and Team USA appears to be anything but.
Former NBA player Grant Hill, the national team's managing director, called Brown's accusations Nike played a role in the final roster move a “conspiracy theory.”
“I spoke to (Brown's) agent. I don't know if that was before or after things went out on Twitter,” Hill said on ‘The Dan Patrick Show.' “But yeah, I think this idea that there's a conspiracy theory — I always love a good conspiracy theory, but it was really truly a basketball decision and these are tough decisions. But having gone through this with the FIBA competition, you want to find the right balance and the right pieces on the court that we needed.”
Brown posted on X, formerly Twitter, responding to Hill's comments: “grant hill calling me a conspiracy theorist is disappointing I’ve been a [NBA Players Association] VP since I was 21 years old I have a great understanding.”
Regardless of Brown's standing with the higher-ups in Team USA, which Tatum may have an issue with as well, it should have no bearing on the upcoming NBA season. The Celtics are currently the favorites to win the title again — Boston has +300 odds to win the 2025 NBA Championship on FanDuel, ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, and Dallas Mavericks.
