Will a unified show of green force propel Jaylen Brown back into the stars?
A trio of past and present Celtics are campaigning for Brown to replace James Harden in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. Harden will sit out Sunday’s showcase as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver has the responsibility of choosing his replacement in the coming days.
Former Celtics center-turned-ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins stumped for Brown first when he emphatically answered this question Hoop Central posed on Twitter: “Which player should replace James Harden (OUT) in the All-Star game?”
“Jaylen Brown!!! Carry on … ,” Perkins wrote in a tweet.
Grant Williams then stood up for Brown, telling his Twitter followers — with a little help of Brodie from “The Wire” — if Silver doesn’t pick him, the game must be “rigged.” Tatum then wholehearted agreed with Williams.
“What he said!” Tatum wrote in a tweet.
Brown was an NBA All-Star in 2021, but he is among the most-high-profile snubs from this year’s game. He’s averaging 23.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in 2021-22 and has been instrumental in Boston mounting its season-high eight-game win streak in recent weeks.
If the public backing starts pouring from outside the Celtics family, and the team keeps winning, it will be hard for Silver to ignore the calls to pick Brown.
