Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown finished sixth in MVP voting in 2026, but he doesn’t appear to be off limits in trade talks this offseason. You can’t think of too many instances in NBA history where this has happened, but ESPN’s Bobby Marks says the market isn’t as robust as it might seem. During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Marks revealed that analytics people do not rate the five-time All-Star all too highly.
“There’s mixed feelings about him when you talk to teams,” Marks said. “The analytics of Jaylen Brown is not good. I’m more of an eye test guy. There are some people out there that look at that a little bit more deeper than what the eye test says. I had one, not an executive, but an analytics guy say, ‘Yeah, we view him as like the seventh-best player on a team.’ I was like, ‘Holy crap.'”
That’s not the seventh-best player in the NBA. That’s the seventh-best on a team. That would sound absurd to most.
Brown just averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game for the Celtics in 2025-26. As mentioned earlier, the 29-year-old was sixth in MVP voting, and he also made the All-NBA Second Team.
Now, Brown wasn’t great in the playoffs, as the Celtics lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, but the raw numbers weren’t terrible. He averaged 25.7 points on 45.5% shooting from the field and 40.5% from three. There aren’t too many players in the NBA who can put up those numbers in the postseason, even if you give them the green light.
If you look a bit deeper, though, the Celtics were better off this season when Brown wasn’t on the court. According to Databallr, he had a -6.2 on-off rating in the regular season, and -23.2 in the playoffs. For some context, Victor Wembanyama was +13.3 in the regular season and +17.6 in the playoffs. Your team should be doing far better when you’re on the court.
This might be one of the metrics this analytics person was looking at. Brown is sure to have something to say about this. He has been listening to all the chatter about him this offseason and has been firing shots on his Twitch stream. Don’t be surprised if Brown tears this individual to shreds.
As for a potential trade this summer, the Celtics have reportedly demanded at least four first-round picks for Brown during talks. That might be a bit too much, especially for the analytics people.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Brown this summer. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was asked if he would be on the team at the start of next season, and while he had a lot to say in response, the one thing he didn’t say was, “Yes, he’s staying.”
If Stevens isn’t ruling out a trade, then there is definitely a chance that Brown gets moved. The relationship between player and team has also almost certainly strained a bit following recent events.
The Celtics reportedly offered Brown and two first-round picks to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was a decent package, but the Bucks ended up accepting the Miami Heat’s offer instead. Brown now knows the Celtics tried to ship him out of town. That could not have sat well with him, and you wonder if a parting of ways is what’s best for both parties.
