Jaylen Brown will hold the mantle of the player with the single-largest contract in NBA history till the end of this season. But Brown hasn’t been producing at that level and is feeling the pressure, especially from the media.
Brown called out ESPN on Instagram for making a graphic showing that he had 43 field goal attempts over his last two games but zero assists. The Celtics star called the media company ‘corny’ and claimed they don’t watch the games.
Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t. It’s fair to say that the box score isn’t the best reflection of what happens on the court, but a stat like 43-shot attempts without an assist is pretty damning. The graphic does paint a more extreme picture than what’s transpired on the court.
Brown is an active part of the offense, executing smart passes when it comes to link-up play. He rarely is in a position to make the final pass before a shot attempt, which impacts his assist numbers. He does pass and look to create for his teammates, but it hasn’t been as effective in the past.
Brown’s new contract will put a target on his back because it’s quite ludicrous to look at the current NBA and say Jaylen Brown is the player with the biggest contract in NBA history. His teammate Jayson Tatum will likely take that position next offseason where he can sign his supermax extension.
Until then, Brown has to be ready to take licks from fans and media who will criticize his contract every time he doesn’t live up to expectations on the court.
The Celtics Expected To Make More Trades This Season
The Celtics were one of the most active teams in the trade market over the summer. They made big acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in the offseason but could still reinforce their bench with better depth. Shams Charania has reported that the Celtics aren’t done evaluating the market for possible trade acquisitions.
“I expect the Celtics to be active in the trade market as we get closer to February.”
"I expect the Celtics to be active in the trade market as we get closer to February."
(Via @RunItBackFDTV ) pic.twitter.com/6NYNhlep0q
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 5, 2023
The Celtics haven’t exhausted their pick assets either, so they could look to take a mid-size contract and try to flip it for two rotational players. Unfortunately for them, they simply don’t have movable contracts outside their core bunch of players. Payton Prichard is the highest-earing player outside of Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, Derrick White, and Al Horford.
Prichard has a contract that kicks in next season, so trading him right now would be unfeasible due to poison pill restrictions meaning Celtics can only take $4 million in return for Prichard. Unless the franchise trades Horford, there isn’t any other move they can make.
The Celtics are going to be one of the first teams to see how challenging it can be to build a contender with the new salary cap rules, as they’re above the second line in the luxury tax. This restricted them from using a mid-level exception in the summer and will hamper their ability to sign buyout players as well as make future trades since they can no longer make trades without matching salaries with no room to accommodate extra money.
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