Boston Celtics: Ainge shutting down Jaylen Brown’s comments could spark a fire under the fourth-year pro

In an interview with WBUR’s Shira Springer, Boston Celtics legend and current President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge made some interesting comments about one of the team’s most promising players, Jaylen Brown. With them, perhaps a fire could be sparked under the fourth year wing.

Given Team USA’s recent seventh place finish in this Summer’s FIBA World Championship games, you’d figure Boston Celtics’ fourth-year swingman Jaylen Brown doesn’t need any extra motivation heading into the 2019-20 NBA season.

However, the man potentially responsible for giving the 22-year-old another life-changing contract may have fueled a fire with his most recent comments. In an interview with WBUR’s Shira Springer, when discussing Brown’s question of whether last season’s Celtics were as talented as Beantown’s 1986 championship roster, President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge, pulled back on the reigns just a tad bit.

"“He started going [over] match-ups like, ‘I’m better than you. And Kyrie’s close to [Larry] Bird.’ It’s like, ‘OK, let’s just stop right there.’”"

Perhaps Ainge wanted to avoid a somewhat tired debate over past versus present, where there rarely seems to be a clear-cut winner. NBA players at the status of Ainge and Brown are, by nature, competitive people. These comments will surely make their way back to Brown, and may even be in the back of the wing’s mind when it comes time to sit at the negotiating table.

Often, when it comes to a contract year, a player tries to put their best foot forward in hopes of landing a big pay-day. After last season’s somewhat disappointing campaign, that saw Jaylen Brown lose his starting spot in the rotation, it was already assumed he would be coming into 2019 with extra motivation.

Now, with his own boss seemingly challenging the restricted free agent to be’s endorsement of himself and his running-mates, Brown has the chance to prove his most important employer wrong. One would hope that the wing has every intention in doing his part in bringing another championship to a city famous for attaining them.

If he wasn’t already inspired to do so, with Ainge’s lack of support for Jaylen Brown’s “I’m better than you” claim, the fourth-year pro could find himself striving for career bests in 2019.