Jaylen Brown finally signs supermax with Celtics, inking richest deal in NBA history
BOSTON -- Jaylen Brown is now a very, very rich man. It took a little longer than anyone expected, but the swingman has agreed to a supermax contract extension with the Boston Celtics.
The deal is worth $304 million over five years and won't kick in until after next season.
Shams Charania reported the news, noting that there is a trade kicker that elevated the total value to $304 million. The deal also does not have a player option.
Brown had been eligible to sign the supermax on July 1, and the extended delay led to some outside speculation that some issues in the negotiating might have arisen. Through it all, reporters maintained that the deal would get done, and on Tuesday, it was finally completed.
Brown is set to make $31.8 million for the 2023-24 NBA season, but his annual salary under the supermax will range between $52.3 million and almost $70 million in the final year of the deal.
It's a lot of cheddar, but Brown earned his massive payday by making the All-NBA Second Team last season, the first All-NBA honors of the 26-year-old's career. He played some of his best basketball for the Celtics last regular season, setting new career highs with 26.6 points per game off 49.1 percent shooting, 6.9 rebounds per game, and matching his career-best at 3.5 assists per game. Those numbers earned Brown his second NBA All-Star nod, and his giant bag this summer.
Brown continued his strong play in the postseason and helped the Celtics get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but the team came up short against the Miami Heat in a deciding Game 7 in Boston and failed to make a return trip to the Finals. Brown put up 26.6 points per game during Boston's postseason run, hitting 49 percent of his shots from the field, but he once again struggled with his dribble and averaged nearly three turnovers per game. He coughed the ball up eight times in Boston's 103-84 Game 7 loss to Miami.
But Brown has gotten better in each of his seven seasons since the Celtics drafted him third overall in 2016 out of Cal, and he will now continue to be one of the faces of the franchise along with Jayson Tatum for years to come.
Tatum, who earned All-NBA First Team honors last season, is eligible for his own supermax from the Celtics next summer. But for now, the Celtics have ensured that their two stars will be playing together for the foreseeable future.
