Jaylen Brown is having an incredible month! Just recently, he inked the richest contract in NBA history, and to add to that, he now holds the title of being the longest-tenured Celtic, surpassing Marcus Smart’s previous record. It’s undoubtedly a thrilling time for him!
During this offseason, the Celtics made significant changes to their lineup. They acquired Kristaps Porzingis from Washington while sending Marcus Smart to Memphis. These moves have introduced a major shake-up to the team’s roster for the upcoming season.
Celtics: Jaylen Brown discusses his relationship with Smart
Brown was honest about the changes in personnel. Per Brian Robb of MassLive, “Definitely a lot of big changes,” Brown said, “Change is not always a bad thing. My brother and my teammate and one of my best friends is not on the team anymore. Everybody knows it. I learned so much from Marcus.”
Even though Brown considers Smart his best friend, their relationship had its ups and downs. When discussing the Celtics’ offseason changes, Brown openly described their dynamic, saying:
Brown has spent all seven of his seasons playing with Smart. Jaylen Brown clearly has a lot of respect for Smart’s game, later on saying, “With Marcus gone, we don’t want our defensive identity to go out the door as well, so we have to really emphasize that at the start of training camp.”
Clearly, there’s mutual respect between the two former teammates. It’ll be exciting to see JB and Marcus Smart re-unite and face off in the regular season.
