Things have cooled off quite a bit over the past month, but Jaylen Brown’s comments about the 2025-26 campaign being his favorite as a Boston Celtics gave the offseason a fiery start.
Brown’s sentiment dominated headlines for the first week or so after Boston’s first-round playoff elimination, fired up the fanbase, and even sparked a beef between him and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
Payton Pritchard had his back, albeit a little late with the dust settled now, during his recent media availability at Cam Neely’s charity golf tournament for cancer research.
“I think people took it wrong,” Pritchard explained to reporters (via 7News’ Ari Alexander). “I feel like, with what we were supposed to do this year and overcoming that and becoming the #2 seed and having a successful regular season, I think that’s what he meant by that. People kind of targeted us as a regrouping [team], ‘not going to make the playoffs’ type of thing. He had a tremendous year. He should’ve been First Team All-NBA.”
Payton Pritchard defended Jaylen Brown and his “favorite year” comment:
— Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) June 8, 2026
“I think people took it wrong, with what we were supposed to do this year and overcoming that and becoming the #2 seed and having a successful regular season, I think that’s what he meant by that.” pic.twitter.com/O7lFxSrANw
Brown and the Celtics have reason to be proud
Brown and the Celtics gave fans plenty to be excited about throughout the regular season. JB played captivating basketball on a nightly basis while Boston piled up 56 wins.
The 2024 NBA Finals MVP averaged a career-high 28.7 points and 5.8 assists per game while tying his career-best for rebounds with 6.9 per outing. Brown finished sixth in MVP voting to cap off his career year. Although, as Pritchard pointed out, he probably should’ve gotten the First Team All-NBA nod.
Unfortunately, the fun ended with the franchise’s first-ever blown 3-1 series lead and its first playoff defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers since 1982 -- which is exactly why Brown’s positive comments were met with pushback, even if they were justified.
The result stung and continues to sting, but the road to it was a fun one. Fans believed during a season in which they entered borderline hopeless. Boston, like Pritchard said, was expected to be mediocre at best with Jayson Tatum sidelined with a ruptured Achilles tendon and with the team having lost Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet for one reason or another.
They didn’t listen to the noise, showed up to work every day, and competed like it was any other season. There was only disappointment at the end because they gave the fanbase hope along the way -- something next to no one expected to have before the year started.
Brown was proud of his teammates throughout the process and maintained that stance even after it came to an early end.
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