How Jaylen Brown’s All-NBA selection impacts his future with the Celtics
The Celtics are now eligible to offer Brown a five-year extension worth up to $295 million this summer.
Over the last month of the 2022-23 NBA regular season, Jaylen Brown has not held back in terms of vouching for his candidacy for an All-NBA selection.
“I think I’m more than deserving,” Brown told The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn last month. “This is the second-best team in the league. I’ve played nothing but winning basketball, helped lead my team, and I’m in the [top] 10 in scoring and I’m efficient. I guess you look at the criteria and I think I more than meet it.”
Of course, earning his first-ever All-NBA appointment holds plenty of significance for Brown, who has held court as one of the best wings in the league for the last few seasons.
But there were also plenty of financial aspects that can’t be ignored, especially ahead of what could be a pivotal offseason for Brown and the Celtics.
Brown’s wishes were finally granted on Wednesday, with the Celtics star named to the All-NBA Second Team. He was joined by his teammate Jayson Tatum (First Team), who earned All-NBA honors for the second year in a row and third time in four seasons.
It was a fitting accolade for the 26-year-old Brown, who ranked ninth in the NBA in scoring at 26.6 points per game this season.
It also opens the door for the Celtics to keep Brown in place by way of a hefty new contract.
Unlike other leagues where laurels such as All-Pro are more honorary regular-season titles, All-NBA selections hold significantly more weight.
With Brown now an All-NBA player, the Celtics have the option to offer him a super-max extension later this summer.
Even though Brown’s current deal is set to run through the end of the 2023-24 season, it might be hard to pass up what Boston can now offer him long term.
With his super-max extension, the Celtics can now put a five-year contract worth up to $295 million on the table for Brown.
Boston is the lone team that can offer a deal of that magnitude, and close to $100 million more than what the C’s would be able to put forward (four years, $189 million) had he not made All-NBA.
Even if Brown was interested in testing free agency in 2024, it’d be tough to turn down the unmatched contract that the Celtics can present this summer.
If the Celtics offer Brown that super-max deal and he accepts, the Tatum-Brown duo will be locked in for at least the next couple of seasons — guaranteeing additional years of contention for this club. Tatum is also now eligible for a super-max deal worth up to $318 million next July.
There stands a chance that some of that sentiment might change if Boston’s season ends against the Sixers later this week. Allocating significant portions of their cap space to two players will also sap the Celtics’ depth over time.
But keeping two All-NBA players in place for the foreseeable future stands as a more sustainable path forward, rather than blowing up this core in search of a shake-up.
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