Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown spent part of his offseason this year in China, and he sure appeared to have a whole lot of fun. Brown mingled with the locals, checked out their customs, and also hilariously named his price to play in the Chinese Basketball Association.
“How many points would I average with the Shanghai Sharks?” Brown said. “Listen, y’all cut the check. Shanghai, I’m out of here. You write a check 400 million. Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wing Chun, I’ll play for all the teams at the same time. I’ll be the first player to play for every team at the same time. Be seeing on Twitter, ‘Get ready to learn Mandarin, buddy.’
“We out here learning Mandarin for real,” Brown added. “Beautiful language.”
View this post on Instagram
Safe to say no one is getting that kind of a contract in the CBA.
The NBA is the cash cow, and Brown is being handsomely rewarded for his services. The 29-year-old will soon enter the third year of his five-year, $285 million extension. By the time this deal expires in 2029, he will have made about $418 million in salaries in the NBA, according to Spotrac.
Brown will be paid $57.1 million in 2026-27, and he’d feel he deserves every penny. The five-time All-Star is coming off the best individual season of his career, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2025-26.
The Celtics had been written off before the season, as Jayson Tatum was recovering from a torn Achilles tendon while Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis had been traded away. It was widely believed they would, at best, be fighting for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Brown helped the Celtics exceed expectations in some style, as they finished second in the East with a 56-26 record. His great play led to him finishing sixth in MVP voting and making the All-NBA Second Team.
The Celtics were being talked about as the favorites to win the East as the playoffs began, but they surprisingly blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. You wondered if there would be significant changes after that early exit, and there might be.
The Celtics are reportedly chasing Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. If an Antetokounmpo trade does materialize, it looks like Brown will be the one heading out of Boston. It has been said he doesn’t want to play for the Bucks, though, so this is an interesting situation.
Whatever ends up happening here, Brown will be eligible for another massive extension soon. He could sign a two-year, $142 million deal on July 26. As long as Brown is getting contracts anywhere near that amount in the NBA, he isn’t going to relocate to China to play basketball. Perhaps in another 10-odd years’ time, he might think about it.
