Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Receives Surprising Label From NBA Superstar

The NBA MVP Award is given to the league’s best player, and as of Wednesday morning, Jaylen Brown was in a tie for the 15th-shortest odds to win the prestigious hardware.

But if Giannis Antetokounmpo was creating those odds, he would have the reigning NBA Finals MVP as the favorite.

“I feel like the best player is the guy that wins a championship, wins it all, and is the best player for his team. So the best player in the NBA, probably I would say is Jaylen Brown,” Antetokounmpo recently told Complex Sports.

The Milwaukee Bucks phenom added to his argument by saying, “You cannot say you’re the best player if you’re on a team who didn’t win. It doesn’t matter if you got the MVP, or you’re All-NBA. If you don’t make your team win, that’s not the best.”

Is Brown actually the league’s best player? Probably not. But the Boston Celtics franchise cornerstone is compiling a basketball résumé that stacks up with the best in the sport. Brown did himself very well in the 2024 playoffs, and he’s in a great spot to tack on more coveted accolades with Boston’s championship window wide open.

Antetokounmpo and Brown will share the court Monday night when the Celtics host the Bucks for a potential Eastern Conference finals preview.