I get they had to pay him, but this is a gross overpayment by any stretch of the imagination. The Boston Celtics have just made Jaylen Brown the richest NBA player in the league’s history as he signed a 5-year, monstrous supermax deal worth $304M.
What a massive contract this is.
Despite friction between Brown and the organization for the last three years, the Celtics and Jaylen Brown have put their differences aside by sitting down and officially coming to terms through Brown’s new 5-year, 304M supermax contract extension that has seen him become the highest paid player in NBA history. And, I hate to say it, but Brown doesn’t’ deserve this deal.
Before the Jaylen Brown fanboys and fanatics come after me, let me just clarify my point by saying I don’t think any player in the current NBA deserves a supermax contract worth $304M completely guaranteed if the reports are to be believed. And that even goes for LeBron James in his current state.
I could only justify giving this deal to Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquielle O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlin, and prime LeBron James (which was him a decade ago now), and even that might be pushing it as at the end of the day, these guys are only playing a sport. But since the NBA is a market-driven league (rightfully so) and the consumers set the price, Jaylen Brown is well within his right to take a $304M deal if one is offered to him.
And that’s exactly what he’s done as he’s now signed for another 5 years to a Celtics organization that has actively involved his name in trade rumors. Well, I’m not so sure he’s going to be a Celtic for the next five seasons as his contract not only is the most bloated in the NBA right now (as he is the highest paid player), but he’s also not the only superstar the Celtics need to resign.
Already two years into his 5-year, $163M deal, the Celtics have two more concrete years with Jayson Tatum under contract and a third player option year before they are inevitably going to have to pay Tatum anywhere north of $350M on his next extension as he’s a far more proficient and “successful” player than Brown at this moment in time.
Brown only has two All-Star appearances (2021, 2023) and a single All-NBA nod (2022/2023) to his name, while Tatum has amassed 4 All-Star appearances (2020-23), 3 All-NBA nominations (2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23), and was the Eastern Conference Finals MVP in 2022.
Plus, Tatum technically led the league in scoring last season as he finished with the most points scored overall but had a lower PPG average than scoring champion and MVP Joel Embiid.
Nonetheless, Tatum is in line for a huge extension, new addition Kristaps Porzingis was given a 2-year $60M extension beyond his $36M player option this season (so, $96M in total), and now Jaylen Brown is going to earn $304M over the next 5 years. By the time the 202/26 season rolls around, the Celtics are going to be spending $124.39M on just three players, which is already 91% of this season’s cap.
Of course, the cap will go up in two years’ time and these contracts won’t take up such a massive percentage, but the Celtics will still need to pay Al Horford, Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White, and whoever else they decide to bring in over the next two years. And at this current rate, they’re going to be paying insane luxury tax penalties to keep this roster together.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I don’t think Jaylen Brown will be in Boston for as long as this extension says he will.
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