Boston Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown raised plenty of eyebrows with his comments on his Twitch livestream on Sunday. Amidst all the complaining about officiating, Brown also called the 2025-26 season the favorite of his career.
That was an interesting choice. The Celtics, of course, lost in the first round of the playoffs by blowing a 3-1 lead against the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown was also without his co-star Jayson Tatum for much of the season as he recovered from a torn Achilles.
Much has been said about Brown’s comments, and Bill Simmons thinks it suggests he is open to leaving the Celtics. Nick Wright was the latest guest on the Bill Simmons Podcast, and he expressed surprise over a player this smart saying this out loud.
“You have to flip that around,” Simmons said. “So why is he doing it? And he is a smart guy. My takeaway after that was he’s probably okay with moving on. And you forgot to mention with that thing about the best year of his career, and this is my dad… My dad was like, ‘We won the title two years ago. We were one of statistically the best teams of all time. We ran through it. He was a huge part of it. He won Finals MVP and Conference Finals MVP. How is that not the most fun year of his career?’
“Jaylen was saying like, ‘Look, everyone counted us out, there was this adversity, they were calling us the gap year Celtics, and we banded together,'” Simmons continued. “But the way the season ended, there’s no way that could be your most fun year.”
Brown got the taste of being the first option in Tatum’s absence, and he might have liked it a bit too much. With how the 29-year-old helped the Celtics defy all preseason expectations, he was even being talked about as an MVP candidate for the first time in his career. No matter how much of a team player one might be, that’s definitely something you’d want to experience again.
Brown averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2025-26 and led the Celtics to a 56-26 record. They were being talked about as favorites to win the Eastern Conference, but lost in seven games to the 76ers.
While the loss stung Brown, the positives outweighed the negatives to the extent that he is picking this season over 2023-24. That was, of course, the campaign in which the Celtics finally ended their 16-season title drought.
Brown was a big reason for it, too, as he was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP and then NBA Finals MVP. For most players, that would be the favorite season of their career by a country mile. Not for Brown, though.
As if that wasn’t concerning enough if you’re a Celtics fan, Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady had some more bad news. McGrady reported Brown is frustrated with the team. Considering the former is somewhat of a mentor to the latter, you can’t help but wonder if the end is indeed near.
The Celtics had selected Brown with the third pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. The five-time All-Star wasn’t a very popular selection at the time, but has proven to be an outstanding player for them. You’d hope Brown spends his entire career with the Celtics, but there appears to be a real possibility that won’t be the case.
