When Jayson Tatum went down with a torn Achilles tendon in the 2025 ECSF against the New York Knicks, fears set in that the following campaign would be a painful affair. And with Tatum out, while it hasn’t quite been the Celtics that the league feared in recent seasons, Jaylen Brown has taken up the responsibility of being the number one option fairly well.
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There were doubters, of course, and Gilbert Arenas was one of them. Brown was always seen as a deputy to Tatum, only proving his mettle in the 2024 Playoffs, earning himself both East MVP and FMVP honors. Despite this, he was questioned on his ability to carry a team on his own for the duration of an entire season.
Arenas admitted to his skepticism on a recent episode of his podcast and felt that the fact that Brown’s performances are going under the radar is a shame. The 29-year-old has shown that he has what it takes to carry a team.
“Jalen Brown has been balling,” the former NBA star said. “The fact that nobody is giving him attention is crazy, they asked if he can be — I definitely asked if he can be — the number one option….”
In Tatum’s absence, Brown has been averaging 28.1 points per game, with a field-goal percentage of 53.5%. He’s been scoring more efficiently than ever before and is also dishing out a decent number of assists (around five) per game. It’s safe to say that the pressure of leading an organization as iconic as the Celtics alone hasn’t broken him.
Arenas continued, “He’s showing that he’s the number one option. He can carry a team. Good sh**”.
That said, the Boston Celtics aren’t performing all that well. Their win against the Orlando Magic earlier today took them to a 5-6 record, placing them 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. It’s far from where they’d ideally want to be, but without Tatum on the team, this was expected. At least according to Arenas.
The three-time All-Star, who already called the Celtics “a**” before, insisted that he doesn’t care about the team’s winning record. All he wants to see is whether Brown can be consistent, and be the main offensive output of the team. And so far, he’s doing a good job at that.
Shifting the topic to the Celtics teams a whole, Arenas opined, “I don’t care about the success, they don’t have the team that they used to have. So I’m not gonna put that type of pressure.”
Arenas concluded by stating that although he doesn’t think this Celtics team is good enough to make the playoffs, an eight, ninth, or tenth place finish should be considered a successful season.
