Jaylen Brown has gotten off to a terrific start, and the rest of the league is taking notice.
Expectations for the Celtics had dropped with Jayson Tatum sidelined, but they’re currently sitting third in the Eastern Conference thanks in large part to Brown’s play. The 29-year-old wing is averaging 29.1 points per game — sixth-best in the league — to go with 6.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
On Friday, Brown cracked the Top 5 of the NBA’s MVP ladder for the first time, coming in at the No. 5 spot. He trails Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham, respectively. Last week, Brown was back in 10th place.
“He’s riding a rocket up the ladder, moving five spots this week, the largest leap of anyone this season,” Shaun Powell writes. “And it’s all because Brown is not only on pace to average a career high in scoring and playing the best stretch of basketball in his career — the 2024 NBA Finals would like a word, though — as he has done the unexpected and is pulling the Celtics up with him.
“Which means, he’s doing Jayson Tatum’s job as well as Tatum, at least for the moment,” Powell continued. “Over the last six games, Brown has looked every bit like a top-tier player, averaging 32 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 6.3 apg. Overall, Boston has won seven of its last nine games.”
Brown and the Celtics will return to action on Monday night at TD Garden, when they host the Detroit Pistons for a 7 p.m E.T. tipoff.