For much of his career, Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown has faced underappreciation while sharing the floor with co-star Jayson Tatum. This season, however, that isn’t the case.
Brown’s maturation in the driver’s seat has been Boston’s greatest gift this holiday season. He’s checked off all the boxes — particularly throughout December — leading the Celtics while elevating both the team’s position in the Eastern Conference and his own standing among the NBA’s brightest stars heading into 2026 — a development
that hasn’t gone unnoticed in the locker room.
“To me, it’s just balance,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said after Boston secured its fourth straight victory on Friday night. “He just picks and chooses his spots really well. We’re obviously playing a little bit faster, so he’s getting some easy baskets in transition. I think he’s finding the great balance of knowing when to score within the offense versus letting the guys do their thing.”
For the eighth straight night, Brown scored 30 points, placing him second only to Larry Bird (in 1985) for the most consecutive 30-point games in Celtics history. He went 13-of-20 from the field against the Pacers, adding three rebounds, four assists, and four steals to surpass Paul Pierce (7) and kept the fire burning in his red-hot run to close out the calendar year. If Brown can pull off two more, the four-time All-Star will stand alone in Celtics history, marking the biggest leap of his career at one of Boston’s most critical moments.
It’s also allowed Brown to stand out among everyone in the league this month.
Brown, while chasing Bird’s record, has averaged 32.1 points in December, leading the NBA in scoring during that stretch. He scored 42 points against the No. 2 seed Knicks, 34 versus the conference-leading Pistons, and 30 in a 20-point come-from-behind win over the Pacers, keeping the Celtics just two games back of New York and 4½ behind Detroit.
Doubt about Brown’s ability to lead a talent-depleted Celtics team has shifted to a conversation that teammate Payton Pritchard believes he belongs in.
“He’s just a top player in this NBA,” Pritchard said. “He should be in the MVP conversation, for sure, and he shows it every night. JB is a tough cover — he can shoot it at all three levels, is athletic and strong, and he’s got a good handle and pull-up game. So he’s just a tough cover, and he’s showing it.”
So far, Brown has led the Celtics with a career-best 29.4 points per game, while ranking second on the team in rebounds (6.4), third in assists (4.9), and third in steals (1.1) across 27 games. Compared with the rest of the league, including early MVP favorites, Brown ranks sixth in scoring — trailing only Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey in the East — while carrying the Celtics to a better record than both the Cavaliers and 76ers.
Brown is proving himself as both an elite scorer and an elite playmaker. He’s opened the floor for teammates, veterans and newcomers alike, to excel in their roles while everyone embraces the next-man-up approach Mazzulla and the coaching staff have crafted. Without Tatum and offseason departures Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, the Celtics have competed at a remarkable level, keeping them in the hunt for the No. 1 seed.
However, his name is rarely mentioned in discussions for league MVP, but Brown’s impact is evident.
“He just spends a ton of time reading the game and the execution of the game,” Mazzulla said. “And obviously he’s very, very talented, so it has a lot to do with it. I think his desire to continue to work and play versus different coverages — that’s really helped. Then his ability to pick and choose his spots really well.”
Lakers superstar Luka Dončić is the only player with a higher usage percentage (36.7) than Brown (35.5). The offense Brown has generated highlights the maturation that has worked wonders for the underdog Celtics. He’s averaging 10.7 points on pull-up jump shots — fourth among all players — with 19.1% of his points coming from midrange attempts, the fifth-highest rate in the NBA.
If justice is served, the new year should open the floodgates for plenty of Brown-for-MVP chatter, spotlighting what has been an overlooked campaign from the energy-shifter himself.
