It appears some don’t think the Boston Celtics made a good investment with the $304 million contract they gave to Jaylen Brown. ESPN’s Zach Lowe revealed that multiple executives told him that it might not be the best choice for the Celtics to pay that much for someone who, in their eyes, isn’t even the Celtics’ second best player.
“I’ve had a couple of people in opposing front offices tell me something along the lines of ‘Are the Celtics really gonna pay their third or fourth or fifth best player all this money?’” Lowe said on the July 25 episode of “The Lowe Post” podcast.
Celtics legend Kevin Garnett did not take too kindly to these comments, questioning how anyone would think that little of Brown, a two-time All-Star.
“Huh? Bron, KD, and Steph play for Boston now? Tf,” Garnett tweeted.
Garnett and Brown have developed a rapport with one another over the years. Back in 2020, Brown even called Garnett his spirit animal.
In March 13, 2022, the day the Celtics retired Garnett’s No. 5 jersey, the two slapped five after Brown’s highlight dunk against the Dallas Mavericks.
Jaylen Brown Talks About Loss of ‘Best Friend’ Marcus Smart
In his first press conference since signing his megadeal, a five-year supermax extension, Brown talked about what it was like to lose teammate Marcus Smart in a June trade to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Definitely a lot of big changes,” Brown said. “Change is not always a bad thing. My brother and my teammate — and one of my best friends — is not on the team anymore. Everybody knows it — I learned so much from Marcus.”
Brown described the highs and lows he had with Smart, adding that the Celtics are going to miss what he could do.
“Marcus has been somebody that’s, like, we butted heads at times. We fought, we did it all, we put each other in headlocks, etc. The journey won’t feel the same without him, to be honest,” Brown said. “But it’s a part of life, it’s a part of what you do going forward. And everything he’s instilled into this organization — everything he’s instilled into this community — is still going to be with us, still carried with us. So we’re going to wish him well on his new journey. Obviously, the city of Boston is going to feel the loss of his impact when he’s no longer here, but we’ll be able to keep moving forward.”
Brown and Smart’s friendship sometimes played itself out in front of a crowd.
Eastern Conference Exec Questions Those Questioning Deal
An Eastern Conference executive told Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney that signing Brown to a supermax extension was necessary and that those saying otherwise don’t seem to understand that the Celtics didn’t have better options.
“It is a good deal because he is a star player, and that is what they had to pay him,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “I love the people who say they should not have given him that contract. Like, OK, then what should they have done? Traded him? Let him go to free agency? The same people who are beating them up for signing him would be beating them up if they did not sign him. It’s crazy.”
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Kevin Garnett Blasts Exec Opinions on Celtics-Jaylen Brown Megadeal