Jason Kidd explains why he dubbed Jaylen Brown Boston’s ‘best player’ during NBA Finals

Jason Kidd explains why he dubbed Jaylen Brown Boston’s ‘best player’ during NBA Finals

The Boston Celtics were, by far, the best team in basketball throughout the 2023-24 season.

After completing two offseason trades for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday , the Celtics completely dominated the regular season, finishing 64-18 with considerable leads in offensive rating and NET Rating. They parlayed their success by going 16-3 in the playoffs, earning the franchise’s first NBA Title since the 2007-08 season.

While it was a collective effort, a huge part of their success was due to star guard Jaylen Brown . Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd called Brown the team’s best player–over star wing Jayson Tatum , who’s regarded by some as a top-10 player in the sport–after Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.

A month after the bold remark, Kidd clarified those comments this week.

“[Jaylen Brown] was playing the best at the time,” Kidd recently said on the Dubs Talk podcast. “Some took as I was trying to start something (between Jaylen and Jayson), but he had just won the Eastern Conference (Finals) MVP, and he actually ended up winning the MVP in the Finals. I don’t know if I was wrong.

“I was just making the comment that Jaylen was playing at a high level–and [ Jrue Holiday ] agreed.”

I would be the first to admit that I thought Kidd was, to some extent, trying to stir up controversy, too. It’s not the first time people tried to cause controversy with Brown and Tatum, who have arguably been the league’s top duo over the last several years. It probably won’t be the last time, either.

Brown, who took home ECF MVP and Finals MVP, averaged 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals during last year’s postseason, oftentimes taking the toughest defensive assignment. He wasn’t always the most efficient, but he was consistently one of, if not Boston’s most impactful players on a game-by-game, quarter-by-quarter, possession-by-possession basis during their Finals run.

That’s not a knock on Tatum, either, whose postseason largely falls under the radar due to his inefficient shooting; Tatum did a phenomenal job leveraging his gravity by consistently making the right passes while being the team’s best rebounder.

Now, whatever Kidd’s intention was is a moot point. They won the title. Dominantly. It didn’t matter in the end–and it matters even less now.

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