Boston Celtics: 3 Cs under the most pressure in 2021-22

Boston Celtics player No. 3) Jaylen Brown

Is it unbelievably unfair for Jaylen Brown to be viewed as being under tremendous pressure heading into this upcoming campaign? Yes.

That said, do we believe it’s an incorrect statement to say he could find himself under the most pressure of any member of the Boston Celtics this year? No.

2020-21 proved to be a tremendous season for the 24-year-old wing as he went on to post career-highs seemingly all across the board (24.7 points, six boards, and 3.4 assists on 48 percent shooting from the floor and nearly 40 percent shooting from deep) and nabbed his first All-Star selection in the process.

Alongside fellow star, Jayson Tatum, the Cs have one of the top wing duos in the entire league as well as two high-upside foundational pieces still in their early-to-mid 20s.

That said, despite all these positive storylines coupled with the sixth-year veteran’s stellar improvements over the years, it has not stopped the media and rumor mill from churning out ideas centered around Brown being traded elsewhere.

Dating back a few years now, there have been a plethora of trade packages concocted that revolve around Brown being used as a major trade chip in a potential blockbuster for any sort of star across the league.

Should the Celtics underperform once more, it could push the front office into some sort of a panic mode and, in an effort to keep their pride and joy in Tatum happy, they could look to strike a major trade that would land them a player that could be viewed as someone who can push them closer to a championship.

The sad part is, the pressure that Brown faces isn’t necessarily anything he can fully control — after all, he is coming off of two consecutive stellar seasons and still isn’t fully viewed as an “untradeable asset” like his wing counterpart is.

We at HH would argue that the pressures in which the other two listed players in Williams and Smart face only amplifies that which Brown has to endure.

Let’s say Time Lord underwhelms greatly and, in turn, the Boston Celtics opt to look towards trying to land a star big man option via the trade route such as the long-desired Karl-Anthony Towns — Brown would almost certainly be needed to execute such a transaction.

Same goes for if Smart doesn’t deliver and, as a result, Stevens and co. opt to look for a backcourt upgrade like the oft-rumored targets of Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal — the wing would be at the center of these trade talks.

Not only does Jaylen Brown need to produce at the same, if not a higher level than he did last season, but he needs to have the team as a whole produce at a similarly high rate on top of this.

If both of these things don’t wind up happening, unfortunately, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we may see trade talks involving the promising young talent pick up throughout the year.

In fact, one could certainly argue that this would be a likely result.