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Stephen A. Smith reacts to Jaylen Brown’s supermax extension

Griffin Crest / NBA / July 26, 2023

Stephen A. Smith reacts to Jaylen Brown’s supermax extension

After Jaylen Brown dropped the ball on the world with a record-setting contract, famous ESPN TV personality Stephen A. Smith has now reacted to his massive deal.

On Tuesday, Jaylen Brown signed the richest deal in NBA history with the Boston Celtics. With a five-year supermax extension that could be worth up to $304 million, Brad Stevens locked Brown up with Boston for the foreseeable future. But what does Smith think about this deal? Is it worth it?

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“First of all, I’m happy for Jaylen Brown. He’s a good brother, conscientious, a star in this league, can flat out ball. But the first thing I thought about when I saw that deal is lord have mercy what is Jayson Tatum gonna get?” Smith said on ESPN’s “First Take.”

“Because Jaylen Brown, for all that he is, the one thing he is not is the best player on the Boston Celtics. That would be Jayson Tatum. And so if the Celtics were willing to pay $304 million over the next five years to keep Jaylen Brown, just imagine what they’re gonna be willing to pay to keep Jayson Tatum because let me tell you something, it’s gonna be more than $304 million.”

In the midst of this record-setting deal, Brown does have his flaws. In the Celtics’ most recent playoff run, Brown let all of Boston down. His ball handling became almost nonexistent, resulting in turnover after turnover whenever Brown had the ball in his (left) hand.

“Jaylen Brown, I’m not going to crucify him the way other people have in terms of how he played in the closeout game in the playoffs in Game 7 against Miami,” Smith said. “So you have your ups, you have your downs, but he works hard. He shows up all the time, He’s a star in this league, He plays both ends of the floor, He doesn’t cheat the game. He shows up in the lineup, doesn’t engage in the load management and all this other stuff.”

At first, I didn’t even like the deal, but with more time under my belt, I liked it more and more. In this case, keeping Jayson Tatum and Brown is the most important thing the Celtics can do. They have become one of if not the best young one-two punch in the NBA. No one can match them. If they can get hot watch together, watch out NBA.

“You’re talking about a young nucleus in place that’s got a decade left in their game. This makes perfect sense because, again, you not only get paid for your level of production, but the projection of what your production will be down the line.”