Retired Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy sounds pretty lukewarm on Jaylen Brown.
Cousy, who turned 97 years old on Saturday, spoke to Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe in a wide-ranging interview that was published this week. During the interview, Cousy offered his thoughts on a variety of topics, including the current state of his beloved Celtics.
Notably, Cousy expressed major doubts that the Celtics forward Brown would be able to carry the team in the injury absence of co-star Jayson Tatum (Achilles) next season.
“In my judgment, Jaylen is not quite at the superstar level that Tatum is at,” Cousy said. ”Can he carry the load by himself? I see a major rebuilding effort here. Jaylen certainly won’t bring them to the promised land.”
You can read Cousy’s full interview with Shaughnessy here.
The 28-year-old Brown is a four-time NBA All-Star and was actually the Finals MVP over Tatum when Boston won the NBA championship in 2024. He also briefly held the record for largest contract in NBA history with a five-year, $285 million extension from the Celtics in 2023 (though that was surpassed the next offseason by Tatum himself with a five-year, $315 million extension).
That said, Cousy is probably onto something here. Brown has always thrived as a secondary offensive cog next to Tatum and was rewarded with his $285 million extension in large part thanks to his value to the Celtics specifically (rather than his objective value on the open market). With Tatum sidelined, Brown will need to serve as a primary offensive creator for Boston, and that is not yet something that Brown has proven he can do in an efficient manner to this point of his career. Brown’s dribbling and overall one-on-one shot creation still need some work, and his defensive energy could suffer next season with the heavier offensive load that will be required of him.
As for the six-time NBA champion Cousy himself, he still pays very close attention to the Celtics as well as the rest of the league overall. Just last year, Cousy went viral for the message that he sent to San Antonio Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama.
