The Boston Celtics were the best team in the NBA from a record standpoint, thanks to the play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Their 64 wins were easily the most in the NBA, with the next closest team being at 57. As awards are being announced for the year, many had penciled in both the stars for an All-NBA team. However, while Tatum was named to one of the teams, Brown was snubbed. His coaches and teammates were definitely baffled by this decision.
Boston Celtics Not Happy About Jaylen Brown All-NBA Snub
While Jaylen Brown has downplayed the All-NBA snub, his Boston Celtics teammates are clearly miffed. They know what he brings to this team, especially after he dropped 40 points in a game two victory over the Indiana Pacers. “100% got snubbed… Big time snub. I don’t get it,” guard Derrick White said after the game. Head coach Joe Mazzulla said this in his postgame comments.
“I think he cares about it in a way that motivates him and I think he doesn’t really care about it at all because he understands that … winning is the most important thing … I really enjoy coaching him”
Even Jayson Tatum chimed in on the discourse.
“We didn’t talk about that during shootaround — we just focused on winning the game tonight. We all felt like, internally, that he should have made one of the All NBA teams, so it was a shame to see that he didn’t.”
Jaylen Brown averaged 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists this year. Additionally, he shot nearly 50% from the field and also had 1.2 steals per game. The challenge for Brown and many other players is the quality of talent in the league.
Who Would Get Bumped?
The third-team All-NBA would be where we should focus, as this was likely the group he was competing with. All-NBA is now positional-less, which likely hurt Jaylen Brown. Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Domantas Sabonis were the last five in. It’s hard to argue those players do not deserve it. The only one I could see would be Steph Curry. While his stats were great, his team did not make the playoffs. Brown helped the Boston Celtics to the best record in the league, and he should be rewarded.
All-NBA is a huge thing for players. It affects salaries and legacies. Ultimately, Jaylen Brown knows what will cement his legacy, an NBA championship and that is what he is focusing on.
More must-reads: