Philadelphia 76ers: Jaylen Brown’s new deal is fantastic news

After showing no elite trait over his first three seasons in the NBA, the Boston Celtics’ decision to extend Jaylen Brown should be music to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jaylen Brown is a pretty good basketball player.

He’s a pretty good scorer – more so from the field than from 3 – with pretty good handles, and is a pretty good defender. While he lacks the star power of the players selected above him in Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram, you’ll nary find a basketball fan who believes Brown was a bad pick third overall, with the consensus being that he has more than lived up to his draft status.

But what do you call a three-year starter who plays pretty good offense, pretty good defense, and has pretty good handles? Well, if you’re the Boston Celtics and the player in question is Jaylen Brown, then you call him a (basically) max contract player.

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Yep, you heard that right Philadelphia 76ers fans, after months of speculation, Danny Ainge and the Celtics’ brass have officially signed Brown to a four-year deal worth $115 million – the first rookie-extension the team has executed since Rajon Rondo back in 2009 (as per Woj).

Again, not knocking the guy, as Brown could conceivably start on pretty much every team in the NBA at either shooting guard or small forward, but is he really a near-max-level player worthy of a near-max-level contract? No.

By that logic, Josh Richardson should be a full-on max contract player, as he actually has a better career stat line than Brown and adds an extra dimension as a secondary ball-handler/backup point guard.

Oh no, does that mean the Sixers are going to have to pay Matisse Thybulle a max contract too, as he also possesses wing flexibility as a plus defender despite having an average offensive game? Again, no, Brown’s contract is the exception, not the rule.

After hemorrhaging talent for months, losing both of their max-level players in Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, Boston’s decision to extend Brown on a four-year basically max contract feels incredibly reactionary and with a growing whiff of desperation.

You see, Brown and Boston had been negotiating all summer to get to a more manageable number, presumably to pay Jayson Tatum a max deal next summer. While it would have been foolish to let Brown walk over $25 million, or even sign-and-trade him to another team, his new deal looks bloated when compared to the other rookie-scale extensions signed by players like the Brooklyn Nets‘ wing Caris LeVert, Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis, and Sacramento Kings sharpshooter Buddy Hield, all of which cost less than a $100 million overall and less than $28 million a season.

Even Ben Simmons‘ five-year, $170 million deal looks better than Brown’s, as the point guard has already made an All-Star team and could continue to do so the next decade-plus.

Brown’s ceiling, on the other hand, may top out as the fourth-best player on a championship-caliber team, and may find himself overwhelmed as Boston’s number three when the regular season opens up in against the 76ers.

I’m all for betting on potential and projections, but it’s hard to imagine Jaylen Brown living up to his new contract, and as such, it’s hard to imagine said move moving the needle in any meaningful way towards the Boston Celtics unseating the Philadelphia 76ers as the best team in the Eastern Conference any time soon. In a league where half of the players change teams from year to year, betting long-term on average talent is a losing strategy.