Usually, NBA fans must wait until the offseason for headlines concerning how certain players view their peers. However, that didn't stop Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown from providing insight into how he views the cream of the crop in the NBA today during a recent interview.
During an appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast on Sunday, Brown was asked to provide his starting five of current NBA players with one condition placed on his selections, Brown was not allowed to choose himself or any of his Celtics teammates.
Considering how well NBA players know to interact with the media when these sorts of questions pop up, it makes sense that the hosts would try to force Brown's hand into a more compelling response by not allowing him to choose any members of Boston's current roster.
As it turns out, this was a great decision by the podcast hosts as Brown's starting five of current NBA stars included a pair of omissions that would likely be enough to make a casual fan scratch their head.
“I’m going to go Ant Man at the two. I’m going to go KD at the three, LeBron at the four, and I’m going to go Wemby at the five…Who’s the Point, I’m going to go Steph. I think he’s the greatest PG of all time. Obviously point guard has evolved, it’s just not like just about setting guys up but I feel like the way Curry shoots the three, if he’s on the floor, it opens up the floor for everybody else,” Brown said, courtesy of Richard Pereira of ClutchPoints.
There is no doubt that every player named by Brown is a star in their own right and this is his list. However, it is interesting that the two odds-on favorites to win league MVP, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, did not make Brown's cut.
Brown went on to explain one of his selections further by touching on just how much of an athletic freak LeBron James is to be playing the game at the level that he is today despite being on the wrong side of 40 years old.
"Maybe it’s because we live in the troll era but like that man has superpowers. To be able to be 6’9, I’m 240 pounds, LeBron’s got to be like 270, and I don’t know if he’s got something else going on, but at 40 it don’t even make sense. On top of that the super speed, super athleticism, he’s got super vision at the same time. To see the game super intelligent, like a basketball savant. Reads the floor and can be a coach on the floor all at the same time."Jaylen Brown on LeBron James
Even the biggest LeBron James haters have to respect all that he has accomplished over the course of his career and that he is still able to perform at such a high level is something that isn't lost on Brown, as we can see from these comments. Including James along with the likes of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, and Victor Wembanyama makes sense as that would be one incredibly tough lineup to overcome.
However, not including Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander will be enough for fans of those respective franchises to feel as if their biggest star has been slighted yet again for playing in a smaller market.
Whether Jokic or Gilgeous-Alexander even catches wind of these comments, let alone impact them in any way, remains to be seen. One thing is for sure though, should we ultimately see Brown's Celtics square off against either the Nuggets or Thunder in the NBA Finals then these particular comments will be at the forefront of the conversation surrounding that series.