How Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Feels About NBA In-Season Tournament

The Boston Celtics will partake in their first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament next Friday night, hosting the Brooklyn Nets.

Creating an inaugural tournament before the rest of the league has even played a week’s worth of games, as expected, has drawn mixed reviews from both fans and players. What’s really at stake for teams like the Celtics, who pursuing a trophy that actually means something? Will players treat the event seriously or play in like an All-Star Game? How will fans respond?

Celtics guard Jaylen Brown shared his two cents hours before taking the floor at Barclays Center.

“The whole idea behind it was to try to create some more revenue, get more fans watching, get people more engaged. It’s a long season,” Brown told reporters during Saturday’s practice, per CLNS Media video. “Around this time of the year, the viewership takes a big dip, turns the fans watching and people participating. So this is a way to try to re-engage the fans, re-engage the players and hopefully make for better business down the line.”

It’s pretty hard to take a meaningless tournament aimed at boosting dollar figures and views for the league seriously. Not to mention nearly every team’s commemorative court design ended up being a rushed eye-sore.

For real NBA Finals-contending teams, there’s really nothing to gain.

“It’s definitely mixed reviews all amongst the league,” Brown revealed.

Even if the argument is made that the tournament could give some frame of reference for how teams like the Celtics will perform in the actual playoffs, that stance can be easily debunked. The stakes aren’t the same, which players know, therefore, what pressure is in place for a fake title?

It just comes off as a lousy cash grab attempt even more ridiculous than the Summer League championship.