Boston Celtics: It’s time to give Jaylen Brown his own spotlight

The Boston Celtics already have one star in Jayson Tatum, but it’s time to give Jaylen Brown his own shining light on the team.

Jaylen Brown‘s explosive performance against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night might’ve surprised the casual NBA viewer, but it shouldn’t have shocked Boston Celtics fans.

Brown totaled a career-high 42 points on 15-of-21 shooting, including going 7-of-10 from three in Boston’s 126-107 victory over the Grizzlies. The most impressive thing was that he did all that in just three quarters, as Brown didn’t play a single second of the fourth and final frame of the game.

What Brown was able to accomplish in three quarters was something no other Celtic player had done over the last 25 years. Not even Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, or Brown’s teammate Jayson Tatum had done anything like that over the last two-plus decades.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Celtics pursuing James Harden in a trade, and Brown has often been mentioned as the main piece of trade bait to make that deal happen for Boston.

It’s time to put that talk to bed, and it’s time Brown moves out of the shadow of Tatum as well.

Boston selected Brown with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, but the former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at California didn’t quite make a huge splash in his first year in the league, averaging 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 78 games for Boston.

The next couple of years saw Brown take on a bigger role as a full-time starter in his second year and a part-time starter in his third year.

Every year — with the exception of the C’s head-scratching 2018-19 season — Brown showed improvement and was allowed to find a bigger role.

Brown was always overshadowed by a bigger name, though. Whether it was Al Horford, Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, or Jayson Tatum, Brown always seemed to play second or even third fiddle on the C’s roster.

That all changed in the 2019-20 season.

With Hayward still struggling to stay healthy and Kemba Walker banged up, Brown emerged as a strong go-to option alongside Tatum. The duo averaged over 20 points per game apiece for the entire campaign, and Brown took another step forward in the playoffs, posting career-highs in points (21.8), rebounds (7.5), assists (2.3), and steals (1.5) in Boston’s 17 postseason games.

I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical about Brown after his first few years in the league. His inconsistency frustrated me, as I’d watch him drop 25-plus points one night then struggle to get 15 the next.

He changed my mind with his performance in the bubble and in the 2020 postseason, though. So far this season, he’s only reinforced my newfound confidence in him, and C’s fans everywhere should feel the same.

Brown is leading the Boston Celtics in scoring this season, averaging 27.5 points a game while also averaging 5.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and two steals. He’s been solid from beyond the arc, connecting on 37.5 percent of his threes, and he’s making a strong 56.9 percent of his 19 field goal attempts per game.

That’s 12 percentage points higher than Tatum, and he’s outpacing Tatum in scoring by over three points a game.

Not only that, but Brown has been very consistent in his scoring and overall contributions so far this year. He’s put up 20 or more points in five of Boston’s first six games, and defensively he’s blocked a shot or gotten a steal in every game.

As good as Tatum is for Boston, Brown is proving to be just about as good. When you consider Brown just turned 24 in October, it’s not crazy to think his ceiling still hasn’t been reached.

Our own Andrew Hughes said in December that trading Brown for someone like Harden doesn’t make sense for Boston, and I think it’s time to remove Brown from consideration in any trades. The Boston Celtics rewarded him with a four-year extension worth $115 million in October of 2019, and he’s living up to that contract right now.

Jaylen Brown is asserting himself as a budding star in the league, and he deserves to move out of the shadows and get his own spotlight right alongside Tatum.