Celtics forward Jaylen Brown could well have as much untapped talent as any young player in the NBA. He was brought along slowly in his first year in Boston and has not had the opportunity to show his full potential as the Celtics have stocked the roster with free-agent talent like Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward (and, now, Kemba Walker). That makes the next four weeks somewhat awkward for Brown and the Celtics, who have until October 21 to agree to a contract extension. According to a league source, “the chance is pretty slim” that Brown signs a long-term deal with the team in the coming month. Around the league, the expectation is that Brown and the Celtics won’t come to a deal.
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There’s a chance that approach could backfire with Brown, though. He is highly regarded around the league. He will turn 23 in a month and could have star potential. “It only takes one team to think he is a max player and then he is a max player,” one NBA front-office executive said. “You don’t see a lot of max deals in restricted free agency and the Celtics can match, so it’s still something that can work in their favor. But there will be teams with money next summer and making an offer for a guy his age, with his best basketball in front of him, makes sense.”
Jaylen Brown is eligible for a new long-term deal as well as he enters his fourth NBA season, but the 22-year-old wing told BostonSportsJournal.com on Wednesday at Thomas & Mack Center that the team has not discussed an extension yet with him. "I haven't heard from them," Brown told BSJ. "The ball is in their court."
Jared Weiss: Jaylen Brown plans to talk with the front office about a potential rookie contract extension before deciding whether to hire an agent. He has been using power agent Aaron Goodwin as his rep for his endorsement deals and Shareef Abdur-Rahim as his advisor (also a Goodwin client).
