Jaylen Brown was justifiably miffed over the NBA’s latest round of monthly awards.
Despite leading the NBA in scoring in December, the Celtics star was not recognized as the Eastern Conference Player of the Month. The honor went instead to New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson.
Brown did not hide his displeasure with that choice, tweeting “Smh” (shaking my head) after the awards were announced Friday.
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) January 2, 2026
Brunson enjoyed a strong statistical month for New York, but Brown outpaced him in points per game (31.7), rebounds per game (6.5), steals per game (1.2), field-goal percentage (53.8%), 3-point shooting percentage (42.6%) and net rating (6.2). Brunson had a modest edge in assists per game, averaging 7.1 to Brown’s 5.4.
Brown also received two Eastern Conference Player of the Week nods in December; Brunson had one. He opened the month with nine consecutive 30-point games — tying Larry Bird’s franchise record — before closing with a 23-point, 10-assist, five-rebound, two-steal performance in a Dec. 30 win over Utah. It was a career-best stretch for a player who’s thrived this season while longtime co-star Jayson Tatum recovers from Achilles surgery.
Earlier this week, Brown tweeted “Best 2 way player in the game,” seemingly referring to himself. He also called NBA All-Star voting a “PR contest” after the first round of fan balloting had him ranked sixth in the East behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Tyrese Maxey, Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Donovan Mitchell.
Ten years into his career, Brown has yet to receive a Player of the Month award.
One Celtic did take home hardware after the team’s impressive December. Joe Mazzulla was chosen as the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month — his fifth such honor — after leading the C’s to a 9-3 record and the league’s second-best net rating.
