“This whole MVP thing, I don’t understand why his name is not getting talked about as well,” LeBron said, per Celtics on CLNS.
Brown had a game-high 32 points in Sunday’s victory over the Lakers, and is averaging career highs in points (29.2), assists (4.9) and rebounds (seven) this season. The Celtics’ win also completed the season sweep of L.A. and improved them to 37-19 on the year.
Even with such a compliment, Brown is doing his best to stay grounded.
“Just come with the same mentality as I have from day one,” Brown said of the high praise, per Celtics beat reporter Bobby Krivitzky. “Don’t let the praise or the warmth or the criticism make or break you. Just come out and be Jaylen Brown. I feel like I’m the best two-way player in the world. I play both ends on the court. Night-to-night, I’m available, which is hard to do. I’m a leader. I help lead my team, empower my team to come out and play confidently, stuff that doesn’t always show up on the analytics.
“And I’m a winner. I come out and try to win every single night. So I’m grateful. It’s an honour to play the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. It’s an honour for LeBron, who’s arguably the best player to ever play the game, giving me some high praise. So, I’m just grateful.”
Lebron shared his respect for Brown, but their relationship hasn’t always been so simple. Especially when Brown made comments about his son and Lakers teammate, Bronny James.
“Our relationship has been pretty respectful, besides the (expletive) he said about Bronny in Summer League,” LeBron said. “But other than that, we’ve been alright. … I think he went on social media and said something about it, so it’s all good. Bronny got a long way to go, but that’s another story.”
Brown was caught during the 2024 Summer League saying, “I don’t think Bronny is a pro,” while watching a game.
He later went on X to address the statement and shed some light on the comment.
Besides the past remark, LeBron has been very impressed with Brown’s leap this season as the leader of the Celtics, with Jayson Tatum rehabbing his torn Achilles.
“I think he’s just using motivation of a lot of people just saying that they’re going to have a down year because of obviously [Tatum] being out, them losing Jrue [Holiday], Al [Horford] leaves, [Kristaps] Porzingis leaves,” LeBron said. “Their whole championship team is kind of revamped, and he used it as motivation to keep them afloat. They’re playing great basketball, and it’s because of him and the rest of those guys. He’s taking that next step.”
