![\"Jaylen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2253207030-e1767275986927.jpg\")
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Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
Jaylen Brown<\/a> has been enjoying a stellar start to the 2025-26 NBA season. The Boston Celtics<\/a> forward has stepped into a primary offensive role for Joe Mazzulla\u2019s team due to Jayson Tatum<\/a>\u2018s injury-forced absence.<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s production has helped establish the Celtics as a top-three team in the Eastern Conference. As a result, he\u2019s currently ranked seventh on the NBA\u2019s MVP ladder and appears to be a shoo-in for the All-Star game and potentially an All-NBA team.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Dec. 31, Brown took to social media to remind the world of the level he\u2019s currently playing at. The Georgia native declared himself the best two-way talent in the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBest 2-way player in the game,\u201d Brown posted on X.<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Brown has always been viewed as a two-way talent. He\u2019s one of the best point-of-attack wing defenders in the league. And now, he\u2019s proving that he can shoulder the burden of leading a team\u2019s offense. Furthermore, he\u2019s leading the NBA in mid-range field-goal percentage, proving that he\u2019s a genuine three-level scoring option.<\/p>\n Best 2 way player in the game<\/p>\n In 30 games this season, Brown is averaging 29.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5 assists, shooting 50.5% from the field and 37% from three-point range. However, according to Dunks and Threes<\/a>, his defense hasn\u2019t been significantly impactful this year, with a -0.5 Defensive Estimated Plus\/Minus, placing him in the 32nd percentile among forwards.<\/p>\n Joe Mazzulla Pinpoints Brown\u2019s Underrated Skill<\/p>\n When speaking to the media<\/a> following the Celtics\u2019 129-119 win over the Utah Jazz<\/a> on Dec. 30, Joe Mazzulla praised Brown for his ability to read the floor. Mazzulla pinpointed Brown\u2019s passing and playmaking as one of his more underrated skills.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things he does great is pick his spots on when to truly impact the game, and then when to either be a facilitator or a playmaker or empower the people around him,\u201d Mazzulla said during his postgame press conference. \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of underrated as to what he does there.\u201d<\/p>\n This season, the Celtics are operating a guard-led offense. Derrick White leads the team with 80 touches per game<\/a>. Payton Pritchard is second with 68.1 and Brown is third with 67.4.<\/p>\n Touches are the biggest indicator of playmaking load. Nevertheless, Brown has seen a steady increase in his assist numbers in recent years, with this season being a career high for him. However, his 3.6 turnovers per night are still an issue that needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n Celtics\u2019 Legend Brown Should Be in MVP Race<\/p>\n During a recent appearance on the \u201cNo Fouls Given\u201d podcast,<\/a> former Celtics champion Paul Pierce claimed that Brown isn\u2019t being considered among the MVP front-runners because he plays for Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody hates the Celtics,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cNo, seriously, why isn\u2019t he? Nobody had the Celtics being in third place in the East with no Tatum. The guy\u2019s putting up 30 consistently; there still hasn\u2019t been nobody talking about him\u2026But this guy has to get some sort of recognition. I mean, this guy is a 30-point walking bucket, and he should be in there.\u201d<\/p>\n While Pierce\u2019s comments are fair, Brown faces stern competition for a spot in the MVP race. The NBA is blessed with elite talent at every position and multiple players are producing career years this season. However, if Brown is the best two-way player the NBA has to offer this season, his name should certainly be floated in the MVP race as we get deeper into the season.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdam Taylor<\/a> is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Miami Heat for Heavy. He holds bylines for CelticsBlog, USA Today and Yardbarker. Adam also covers the WWE and AEW. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics Jaylen Brown has been enjoying a stellar start to the 2025-26 NBA season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-385106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}