Jaylen Brown has put together the best all-around season of his career. That’s less opinion than fact at this point.
The Boston Celtics forward is averaging 28.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists while carrying the team through most of the season without Jayson Tatum. Boston has held a firm grasp on second place in the Eastern Conference despite major roster turnover and months of uncertainty, keeping just enough distance between themselves and the Knicks and Cavaliers.
And yet, Brown still isn’t
widely considered a serious MVP contender. He finished sixth in ESPN’s latest straw poll, receiving zero first (or second) place votes.
Speaking on the Cousins podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady (am I the only one who assumed this meant DeMarcus Cousins’ podcast?), Brown acknowledged that winning the award would be meaningful, but also suggested the standards for earning it can feel like a moving target.
“I feel like I fit the criteria for it,” Brown said. “Especially with what people were saying about me before the season… I’ve been able to shoulder that and help lead my team to where we are now.”
“But people constantly just move the bar. Now we fast forward, and now I don’t have enough to fit the criteria. So, I probably never will, no matter what.”
It’s a sentiment that probably resonates with many Celtics fans who have watched Brown’s season unfold.
Boston entered the year surrounded by questions. The Celtics moved on from several key pieces of last year’s championship roster, and Tatum has missed a large portion of the season recovering from his Achilles injury. Analysts and fans alike expected the team to slide down the standings.
Instead, the former Finals MVP raised his game to another level. Brown became the Celtics’ primary offensive engine, took on a larger playmaking role, and helped guide a younger roster through one of the most unpredictable seasons the franchise has faced in years.
The MVP race, however, remains stacked. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, and Victor Wembanyama have all produced seasons that are difficult to argue against.
Brown probably isn’t the MVP this year, and even he seems to recognize that reality.
But his frustration speaks to something broader about how the award is discussed. The MVP conversation rarely follows a consistent standard. Some seasons reward overwhelming individual numbers (see Russell Westbrook in 2017). Others lean toward the best player on the best team (see Giannis in the 2019 and 2020 seasons). Sometimes voters prioritize narrative, like a player dragging an injury-ravaged roster into contention.
Brown’s season checks several of those boxes. He carried Boston all year without Jayson Tatum and kept the Celtics near the top of the Eastern Conference when many predicted them to possible fall out of playoff contention. In other seasons, that kind of story would have pushed a player firmly into the MVP conversation.
This season, however, the race has been defined by historically dominant campaigns from several other stars. The bar didn’t necessarily move. It just rose.
For Brown, though, the award still isn’t the ultimate goal.
He told Carter and McGrady that winning another championship would mean far more than an MVP trophy. And with Tatum now back in the lineup and the Celtics beginning to look whole again, that objective remains very much in play.
Whether Brown ever wins the award or not, Celtics fans will remember how he carried the team through its most uncertain stretch of this unexpectedly delightful season — and delivered like a superstar when Boston needed one most.
