NBA
Jayson Tatum stresses how ‘it’s extremely important’ to extend Jaylen Brown’s contract in Boston
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated31 May 2023
The hype around the possibility that the Celtics could produce a historic comeback after a 3-0 deficit against Miami and then tying the series, was quite a rollercoaster ride for the Boston squad. Now that they’ve been eliminated in Game 7, they are confronted with many crucial decisions this summer than could shape the franchise for years to come.
One of the most important decisions is if Jaylen Brown should be offered a contract extension, especially considering the fact that the roster has been built around him and his co-star Jayson Tatum in the past years.
According to the foward, offering his teammate a supermax contract is not only worthy of his talent, but also fundamental for the team to keep reaching the playoffs’ last stages, as they’ve done in the past couple of campaigns.
“It’s extremely important,” Tatum assured. “He’s one of the best players in this league. He plays both ends of the ball and still is relatively young. And he’s accomplished a lot so far in his career. So, I think it’s extremely important.”
In his own case, he’s signed for the next two seasons and still under his rookie extension that started last year. The 25-year-old won’t be eligible for a supermax extension until next year’s summer and it would commence in the 2025/26, probably worth more than $300 million.
However, Brown’s contract is the most pressing matter, especially as he is eligible for a new deal this offseason. After being selected to the All-NBA second team this season, the guard could be proposed as much as a five-year deal worth around $295 million.
When asked about his future, Brown still had his mind stuck on Game 7’s defeat. “We failed. I failed,” he said. “It’s hard to think about anything else right now, to be honest. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Brown, who averaged career highs in points (26.6), rebounds (6.9) and assists (3.5) this regular season, was in no mood to discuss his potential contract extension.
“I don’t even really know how to answer that question right now. My thought process is take it one day at a time, focus on getting better. Focus on what the future holds and see where we are from there,” he said.
Tatum also gave a vote of confidence to coach Joe Mazzulla after his debut in the Celtics’ bench
Joe Mazzulla also proved to have the personality to keep leading the Boston club for the following campaign, as his star player Jayson Tatum joined the locker room to give him a vote of confidence after a great tournament. Not only did he guide the squad to a 57-win regular season, but also almost recovered from losing the 3-0 series to Miami.
“It was his first year. We got to the conference finals Game 7,” Tatum expressed. “We all figured it out. Obviously, we wanted to win the championship. Didn’t happen. But I think Joe did a great job. We won 50-some odd games. We got to the Game 7 conference finals. Obviously, everybody can be better, learn from this. But I think Joe did a great job this year.”
Let’s all remember how Boston’s season started, as former coach Ime Udoka was suspended and Mazzulla unexpectedly had to step in for the job.
“What do we have to do to get better, I think, is what we have to learn from that,” he said. “Regardless of those circumstances, the guys, the locker room showed a sense of toughness and togetherness, starting out the season a certain way and getting to this point and just got to figure out how to be better.”
