Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown is coming off an ideal season. He became a three-time All-Star, an NBA Finals MVP, and most importantly, a champion. Yet, the 27-year-old is far from satisfied. In fact, he's looking for revenge.
On Saturday, Brown promoted his new song with A$AP Ferg, “Just Do It,” on Instagram. He responded to plenty of comments on the post and when one follower described his next season as a “villain year,” he seemed to embrace it.
According to his IG comments, Jaylen Brown isn’t satisfied after last season. He still wants some revenge. “I want blood.” (Via @FCHWPO on IG)
But what would an All-Star who just succeeded on the biggest stage in basketball need revenge for?
Why Jaylen Brown is “out for blood” next season
Brown has always used criticism and past struggles as motivation.
In 2023, he had one of the worst showings of his career in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. Brown recorded a whopping eight turnovers and went an uninspiring 8-for-23 from the floor en route to a 103-84 defeat.
This brutal loss prevented the Celtics from making a historic comeback and was another example of the Green Team having enough to approach a title, but not enough to go all the way.
“We failed. I failed. We let the whole city down,” Brown said following his disastrous performance, via NBA TV.
"We failed. I failed and it's hard to think about anything else right now." Jaylen Brown following Boston's Game 7 loss
A Game 7 like that would've broken a lot of players, yet Brown persevered. And he used that feeling of failure to return even stronger during the 2023-24 postseason.
The Georgia native averaged a playoff career-high of 23.9 points per game while shooting an incredibly efficient 51.6% from the floor. That conversion rate is especially impressive for a guard who takes no shortage of tough jumpers.
Due to his clutch shot-making and improved defense, Brown was named the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals MVP as well as the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. With those accolades to his name, the Celtics' franchise cornerstone made good on his promise to go to war for Boston:
Jaylen Brown on Draft night in 2016: “I’m gonna go to war for this city … I promise I won’t disappoint.” NO LIES TOLD
Despite these achievements, Brown didn't make Team USA's roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Prior to the 2023-24 campaign, the McDonald's All-American stated how much it would mean to him to represent his country in the Summer Games. Unfortunately, he was left off the squad and had to watch the Americans take home gold from afar.
If Jaylen Brown is referencing the Olympics here, he mentioned how he wanted to join Team USA in Paris all the way back in October of 2023
This snub came with tons of controversy, as Brown accused Nike of playing a role in excluding him from the Olympics. Nike was a major sponsor for Team USA and the massive company has a spotty history with the Celtics star. Plus, on that aforementioned Instagram post, Brown agreed that Nike was a “hater” of his:
Jaylen Brown said tag a hater and Nike was quickly called out 🤔
Regardless of what went down, Brown will use this Olympic disappointment as fuel. And he's not the only Celtic who can do so.
Why Jayson Tatum also has some extra motivation for next season
Fellow star Jayson Tatum joined Team USA in Paris, however, it didn't exactly go as planned. The five-time All-Star was benched for the entirety of the opening match and didn't see many minutes for the rest of the Olympics.
Although the lack of playing time slighted the reigning NBA champion, he didn't waver from the main objective of winning his second gold medal. Current Celtic and two-time Olympic gold medalist Jrue Holiday commended his teammate for handling the situation well, per Justin Turpin of WEEI.
“Playing with him is pretty comfortable,” Holiday described. “I think everybody knows JT. He’s the ultimate professional. He knows what it is, what the ultimate goal is.”
Many media members and NBA personalities stood up for Tatum and suggested that Team USA head coach Steve Kerr messed up by not playing him. The 26-year-old let others do the talking for him and moved on, emphasizing how important getting back to work is for him in order to win back-to-back titles, via Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
“Last year was last year,” he stated. “It was a dream come true. We worked our a** off. But after ring night, we gotta move on. We gotta get ready for game 2.”
Speaking of ring night, the Celtics will officially raise banner no. 18 and open up the 2024-25 season against the New York Knicks on Tuesday, October 22. This Eastern Conference showdown will mark the beginning of Boston's title defense and give Tatum and Brown another opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.
