What Jaylen Brown's supermax extension means for him and the Celtics

BOSTON -- The waiting game for Jaylen Brown and the Celtics to agree on the budding star's supermax extension is finally over. Brown is a very, very, very rich man, after signing a five-year, $304 extension with the Celtics on Tuesday.

This was expected to happen since Brown was eligible to sign on the dotted line back on July 1, though the three-week waiting game made Boston fans a bit uneasy. Was Brown unhappy with the Celtics? Were the Celtics getting cold feet about giving out that big of a contract? Could a trade be in the works?

You can throw all of that in a blender now. The deal is done, and that's good news for both sides.

The 26-year-old Brown is now the richest player in the NBA, at least until the next year's supermax contracts are given out. He'll be the highest paid player on the Celtics, at least until Jayson Tatum signs his even bigger supermax next summer.

That's a big win for Brown, and it's an even bigger win that he got a trade kicker in the deal. The contract is a win for the Celtics too, since Brown did not receive a player option for the final year of the deal.

Should the time come where Brown and his contract need to be dealt, he'll have a little say in the matter. And the Celtics will have some extra leeway since Brown won't be able to opt out of the deal a year early. (Though, who in their right mind would opt out of a nearly $70 million paycheck for one season?)

Many are questioning if Brown is worth such a massive payday. The answer is no, because nobody is worth that massive payday. In a basketball sense, it's a large investment for a player who has one All-NBA nod (a spot on the Second Team last year), has only made two All-Star teams, and is the second-best player on his own team. 

But while many will point to Brown's struggles with holding onto the basketball and streaky shooting in the playoffs, it's easy to counter with the fact that Brown has improved in each of his seven seasons in green. He's always finding new ways to put the ball in the basket and ways to help his team win. He's about to enter the prime of his career and he's being paid like a superstar, so expect him to play like a superstar.

There is also a very strong chance that a good chunk of the $304 million will go to a several good causes, because that is the kind of guy that Brown is. He's become a pillar of the Boston community, and he's going to be around for a while. That is a good thing for a lot of people.

That is not to say there are not risks and ramifications with this deal. Brown will now have a ton of pressure to live up to his contract. And the Celtics have to really hope that he does, since they'll be firmly entrenched in the NBA's second apron when the deal kicks in for the 2024-25 season. That means Brad Stevens will have to build the Boston roster by re-signing his own players, adding players on minimum deals, and through the NBA Draft. He must have had a good inkling that this would become the C's reality when he acquired all those second-round picks over the last month. 

Clearly, the Celtics were ready to build around Tatum, Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis for the next few seasons. The pressure to win in the next two years will really ramp up, since that's when Tatum's max deal (we're going on the assumption that Tatum will not turn down his own $300+ million contract) will hit the books and further tighten Boston's checkbook. 

But Brown should be one happy man now that he's received his big payday and will no longer be in trade talks -- at least for one calendar year. The Celtics made a hefty investment into one of their homegrown players, because it was their best course of action. 

The championship window remains open, and Jaylen Brown will be a big part of keeping it that way for years to come.