Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown is leading the NBA in two-point shots per game. Not Nikola Jokic. Not Alperen Sengun. Not any of the league’s best bigs, or even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s Brown. And he’s also one of the most efficient scorers from inside the arc, too.
Brown’s 15.8 two-point attempts per game tops the NBA (Sengun is second at 14.9). Giannis Antetokounmpo is taking 15.9, but he hasn’t played in enough games to qualify for the stats. The Celtics star is shooting 54.6% from two-point range. Of the 10 players who attempt the most twos per game in the NBA, Brown is fourth in efficiency, trailing only Gilgeous-Alexander (59.9%), Jokic (67.4%), and Jalen Johnson (57.2%). Plus, Jokic and Johnson are ninth and 10th in attempts.
He’s absolutely dominating the NBA with twos in a way no guard or wing has since the 1908s.
Jaylen Brown dominating the NBA unlike anyone in years
Other guards and wings have led the league in two-point attempts in recent years. In fact, outside of Antetokounmpo taking the crown in recent seasons, it’s usually a guard or wing taking the reins.
Gilgeous-Alexander did it in 2022-23 with 17.8 per game. DeMar DeRozan did it in 2021-22 with 18.3. Bradley Beal took the most in 2020-21 with 16.8. Russell Westbrook took 18.7 in 2019-20. And DeRozan was the leader back in 2018-19 with 18.7.
But they weren’t doing it quite like Brown is this season.
When Gilgeous-Alexander led the league, he only shot 53.3% on twos, and the Oklahoma City Thunder went 40-42. DeRozan shot 52.1% when he did it with the Chicago Bulls. They went 46-36 and got bounced by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
Beal’s league-leading 16.8 attempts came on 53.5% efficiency, and his Wizards went 34-38, losing in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Westbrook led the league in two-pointers when he was on the Houston Rockets, shooting just 51.4% from that range and helping Houston to a 44-28 season that ended in a second-round defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Then, lastly, DeRozan’s first time doing it (when with the San Antonio Spurs), saw him shoot 49.2% on a squad that went 48-34, losing in the first round.
Right now, the Celtics are 18-11. That’s a 51-win pace over the course of a regular season, which would be more wins than any guard/wing who has led the league in two-point attempts since 2019. Plus, his 54.6% on twos is the most efficient of the group as well.
Plainly put, Brown is leading the Celtics in a way no guard or wing has done in the past six years. But it's more than that.
It’s a bit niche, combining all three of those requirements (leading the league in twos as a guard/wing, shooting at least Brown’s percentage, and having a 50-win pace), but it doesn’t make Brown’s season any less impressive.
In fact, the last time a guard or wing met all three of those requirements was Michael Jordan… before he won his six championships.
Jordan led the league in two-pointers per game (23.7) in the 1987-88 season (his third in the NBA), shooting exactly 54.6% and leading Chicago to a 50-32 record.