What might be driving Jaylen Brown

It's July and the NBA media spin cycle is in full force. With that, I believe the most fascinating situation in the league is Jaylen Brown. I've listened to a lot of media and online discussions about Brown and have found most of it unsatisfying, inspiring me to write about it. I feel confident saying two things about Jaylen Brown:

  1. He is a smart guy; and
  2. He is an incredible basketball player.

Brown went to Cal and The Athletic has reported he took a graduate course as a freshman. That same article says his mother got an MBA while raising him and his brother. While you might not agree with all his decisions, he's smart. On the basketball points, I like analytics and yes I'm aware of the On-Off numbers for him. He's also been part of good teams for 9 of the 10 years he's been in the league (including two seasons where Jayson Tatum didn't or barely played). He plays a vital position. He's a winning player.

With that, I wanted to put myself in Brown's shoes to try and follow his decision-making. If I pretend to be Jaylen Brown, I've just come off the best individual season of my career, making All-NBA Second Team for only the second time (Tatum has made five All-NBA teams, including four First Teams). I've mostly played in the shadow of Tatum for my career and until Tatum's Achilles injury, that was fair. I've also seen Tatum up close for most of the last year and what if I decided:

While the second point feels a bit harsh, let's look at Kevin Durant, who has made a miraculous recovery from his own Achilles injury. Durant has only won two playoff series since that injury seven years ago and never been past the second round, across three teams. While Tatum was three years younger than Durant at the time of their injuries, those playoff results are a plausible outcome for Tatum going forward.

Perhaps Jaylen Brown went to the Celtics and asked for a trade, hoping to keep it relatively quiet out of respect for Tatum. After all, it's not Tatum's fault he got hurt. The Celtics responded by dangling him in trade talks with Giannis. Those talks leaked and started a discourse that has dragged his name and play through the mud. Brown could fairly believe that players of his stature don't get dangled in trade talks, even after trade requests.

Jaylen Brown may feel that he tried to be respectful and has been punished for that. Of course, you could say he should fulfill his contract and yet you could counter that the Celtics didn't need to dangle him publicly. Brown is a smart person who might have made a tough decision and probably feels betrayed by what the Celtics have done since.

This post is provided for general information, commentary and discussion purposes only. It is not legal, investing or other professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any errors or omissions are unintentional. The views expressed are those of the author in a personal capacity and do not represent the views of any employer, client, partner or affiliated organization. Generative AI tools were used to assist with research and editing.