Jaylen Brown’s first season with the Boston Celtics was also Isaiah Thomas’s last.
The two only played one season together in 2016-17, when Thomas was the Celtics’ best player and Brown was a 20-year-old kid with something to prove.
A third overall draft pick, Brown showed some promise as a rookie but didn’t immediately become a star. He mostly played off the bench and averaged just 17 minutes per game.
Thomas, on the other hand, was at the peak of his powers. He was an All-Star and an MVP candidate, carrying Boston to the playoffs as the team’s leading scorer.
With Brown playing more of a complementary role that year, Thomas didn’t immediately peg him for superstardom.
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“I would be lying if I said I thought he would be where he is right now,” Thomas said while watching his former teammate and the Celtics beat the Miami Heat at TD Garden on Friday night. “So dope to see him now as an All-Star, Finals MVP, NBA champion…I’m like a proud big brother.”
It took Brown a few years, but he eventually developed into one of the league’s best players, helping lead Boston to a title in 2024 while winning Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP.
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While Brown had plenty of help that year, he’s proving now that he can carry a team on his own with Jayson Tatum sidelined by an Achilles injury. Brown scored 30 points for the sixth straight game on Friday, becoming just the fifth player in Celtics history to do so.
Now 29, Brown is playing at an MVP level, just like Thomas did when they were teammates nearly a decade ago.
