Paul Pierce knows what a heavy Celtics season feels like. He knows what it means to carry a franchise through injuries, expectation and nightly defensive attention. So when Pierce says Jaylen Brown should have been First Team All-NBA over Luka Dončić, it is not just loyalty talking. It is a former Boston star recognizing the burden Brown carried.
The official First Team was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama, Dončić and Cade Cunningham. Brown landed on the Second Team alongside Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Kevin Durant and Jalen Brunson. Dončić led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game and earned his sixth First Team selection, his first with the Lakers. Brown, meanwhile, was rewarded for a season in which he had to operate without the same kind of top-end help Boston has usually enjoyed.
That was Pierce’s point. Dončić had LeBron James and Austin Reaves around him for much of the year. Brown did not have a second All-Star next to him. With Jayson Tatum limited by his Achilles recovery, Brown became Boston’s nightly engine, first option and emotional stabilizer. Pierce argued that Brown “did the most with the least” among the top candidates, maybe with Cade Cunningham as the only comparable case.
Paul Pierce says Jaylen Brown should have been first team All-NBA over Luka Doncic:
“I know that’s saying a lot because Luka did lead the league in scoring, but he had more to work with, too. Think about it. He had LeBron all year. You got Reaves, you know, a lot of most of the… pic.twitter.com/YB1s3vTPJ3
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