It’s 2017-18 season, and the Boston Celtics are figuring out how to win meaningful games without their star Kyrie Irving. The 2018 playoffs are here, they defeat the Milwaukee Bucks with Brown coping two 30-point games. He averaged 20.5 points on 47 percent shooting in the six full-games he played before the injury that would sideline him. He would come back in game 2 of the Philadelphia 76ers series and didn’t miss a beat. Brown had a string of 20-plus-point games against the 76ers and Cavaliers.

Then game 7 came… and Brown gave the desperate Celtics a stinker with a 13-point performance while shooting 5/18 from the field and 3/12 from three. His and Terry Rozier’s shooting performance undoubtedly gave Boston the loss. However, as a second-year player the sky was the limit and that would only motivate the young Celtic for the next season. With a fully-healthy Celtics team, things got worse before they got better. We know the story about the team and how things didn’t turn out the way they wanted. However, Brown had the opposite affect for his personal play. He started off the first month of the season horrible. He couldn’t find himself in the role he was in, and the chemistry was a mess. Once they brought him off the bench, things started to click for him again. But that spark off excellence wasn’t consistent.

Contract talks are now happening between Danny Ainge and Brown and his crew. They offered Brown four-years worth $80 million, and Brown is probably going to turn that down. He feels he could change the narrative of who he is and could be an All-Star type of player. Rumors around the league (NBA and Twitter) that Brown is looking for $170 million. Here’s the question, is he worth that investment? Well the only real answer to that is: it depends on what Jaylen Brown does this season.

Last year, by all accounts it was a mess for everybody involved with the Celtics. I explained how badly Brown started last year, which ended up with him losing his starting job. So far this pre-season we’ve seen him becoming a better dribbler of the ball. That was the biggest fear with Brown, was his ball-handling in transition. That has seemed to clear up. But with that being said, his inconsistent shooting hasn’t seem to get much better yet.

With this new team, you still have Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward, not to mention drafting Romeo Langford and Grant Williams. Something will have to give, especially with the combo of Tatum, Hayward and Brown. Either one of these players will get traded, like a Hayward or Brown or they let him walk away. As much as Boston fans love Brown, if Hayward gets back up to his All-Star potential, Brown’s plans in Boston may change. And it may be for the better, maybe he needs a team that is focused on crafting and developing his skills to win championships. A San Antonio Spurs team for example. But that is where Boston and Jaylen Brown stand right now. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out for both sides.