Jaylen Brown, earlier this week, stepped up to criticize the league for not choosing him as the NBA’s Player of the Month. He spoke about it on social media and also on his stream, which showed that he was truly disappointed. His coach Joe Mazzulla, however, is happy about that.
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The Player of the Month for December went to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the West and Jalen Brunson from the East, and Brown insisted that he didn’t mean disrespect to them when he declared that he had a better month than them. He led the Celtics to a 9-3 record and averaged 31.5 points per game.
These were not astounding numbers, but the fact that the Celtics were counted out by many due to Jayson Tatum’s injury and still climbed to 3rd in the standings thanks to Brown, warranted better recognition. Mazzulla knows that better than anyone else but decided to look at this snub another way.
“I’m happy he’s disappointed,” he said. “He takes a lot of pride in being one of the best players and one of the best players for us. The way he goes about it, his ability to impact the game differently, so I think stuff like that is important.”
Mazzulla did opine that Brown should have been the winner, and from a head coach’s point of view, it is hard to disagree. That said, Mazzulla wants this to light a fire in Brown and set him up for vengeance.
“I hope he takes it out on our opponents for the next month,” the Celtics boss added.
Joe Mazzulla on Jaylen Brown missing out on player of the month:
“I’m happy he’s disappointed in it… I hope he takes it out on our opponents for the next month.”pic.twitter.com/MBxmHymRgD
— jb (@lockedupjb) January 4, 2026
Brown, meanwhile, is always going to ask for what he feels is his. He’s not going to play humble, just for others to come in and win awards. He wants to stand out, which is why he said on a stream, “People tell me if I keep my mouth closed, maybe I’ll win awards that’s exactly why I’m going to keep talking.”
It is a unique way of looking at things, and for Brown, this mindset could help him become even better. If he matches or surpasses his December numbers in January while continuing to win games for Boston, it will be truly hard to ignore him for the award.
