NBA

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum become first Boston All-NBA duo in 15 years; both now eligible for super max contract extensions

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By
Antonio Kozlow
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Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.

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Sports Editor

Updated11 May 2023

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From now on, Boston can back up their claim to have the best duo in the NBA as this Wednesday both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have both earned their place in the All-NBA Teams. The superstar wing combo are the only pair of players to be a part of the same franchise and share this notable 2022/23 selection. 

Tatum made his third overall All-NBA award as he was voted this year to the First Team for the second straight season, while Brown is making his All-NBA debut as a member of the Second Team.

“I think Jaylen Brown has closed the gap a little bit in terms of the difference level between he and Jayson Tatum,” NBA analyst Doris Burke said this week, as the Georgia native has been as impactful as his teammate this campaign.

The athletes have become the first pair of Celtics teammates to make an All-NBA squad in the same tournament ever since Paul Pierce (Third team) and Kevin Garnett (First team) were selected back in the 2007/08 season. However, they are the first to make Second Team or better since both Larry Bird and Kevin McHale both made the First Team in 1987.

The Boston pair are also the only pair of teammates in the NBA to make the Second Team or better this campaign, as the only others who made an All-NBA squad were Third-Team selected Kings stars Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox.

It is almost unbelievable that Brown has only achieved this honor for the first time in his career, as he’s had other All-NBA worthy seasons in the past. However, there is no doubt this one has been his strongest display yet, as he’s earned career highs in points (26.6) on 49.1% efficiency from field goal attempts, rebounds (6.9) and assists (3.5) per contest.

These awards mean that both players are now eligible for super max contract extensions with the Celtics.

There’s been a lot of transfer speculation surrounding Brown ever since he admitted his future in Boston is uncertain

NBA insider Colin Cowherd really took a ride on the speculation train this week, as he painted a picture of Jaylen’s future for the following season.

“I think the Celtics have to make a move, and I’ll throw this out to you: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum doesn’t necessarily work because Brown’s got more alpha, but Tatum’s the better player,” he said.

“But if you brought Jordan Poole and (Andrew) Wiggins in from the Warriors, Tatum would be clearly the best player, he would have a wing defensive specialist. Wiggins would take some of the defensive pressure off. Poole’s not nearly the defender Jaylen Brown is but he’s got a lot of alpha. You wouldn’t have that issue about whether it’s a Tatum team or a Brown team,” the journalist concluded.

Ever since Brown hit 35 points in the playoffs’ first round against the Atlanta Hawks, his performances have slowed down, and he was the first to recognize he needs to step up his game and ‘shift the energy’ after losing Game 4 against the Sixers.

“I guess I got to demand the ball a little more,” he said this week. “I thought good things happened when I had it in my hands. I thought our offense was OK. I thought we chipped away, we made big-time shots, we got great looks all game long. We just came up short in the end.”