Boston Celtics
“Neither one of them had a better month than I had.”
Jaylen Brown led the NBA in scoring for the month of December. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
January 3, 2026 | 11:38 AM
3 minutes to read
Jaylen Brown didn’t agree with the NBA’s decision to name Knicks guard Jalen Brunson the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December, to say the least.
The Celtics’ star expressed displeasure over the NBA’s announcement of Brunson and Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning the Eastern and Western Conference Player of the Month awards on Friday. Shortly after the league’s announcement, Brown wrote “Smh” in a social media post.
Brown continued to harp over the snub in a stream he did on his Twitch channel late Friday.
“No disrespect, no diss to any of those guys, Shai or Brunson, but neither one of them had a better month than I had,” Brown said. “It’s all good. Those are great players. So, my whole thing is what’s the rubric, what’s the criteria behind [picking the award]?
“Why do they select this? Somebody in the back just picking their favorites? What’s the rubric? Ain’t no rubric. I’ve been telling this to the NBA Players’ Association, and obviously, this is controversial and people keep telling me, ‘Maybe if you get your mouth closed, maybe you’ll win some awards.’ That’s exactly why I’m going to keep talking.”
Brown later added that he didn’t care too much about the snub, but he would’ve appreciated the honor.
“That would’ve been my first [Player of the Month award]. I felt like I deserved it,” Brown said. “But it’s all good. We’re just going to keep working.”
Brunson had an impressive month of December, averaging 30.6 points, 7.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and a combined one block and steal per game. He also helped the Knicks post a 10-4 record, winning the NBA Cup.
But Brown was slightly superior to Brunson in most individual stats for the month. Brown’s 31.7 points per game led the league in the month of December, while he added 6.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and a combined 1.8 blocks and steals per game. He was also a more efficient scorer than Brunson, shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from distance.
Brown’s play also helped the Celtics surge up the Eastern Conference standings in December. Boston went 9-3 in the month and now only trails New York by 1.5 games for the No. 2 seed.
On top of that, Brown also tied a pretty impressive franchise mark during December. He scored 30-plus points in nine straight games, joining Larry Bird as the only other player in Celtics history to score at least 30 points in that many consecutive games.
Another Celtics legend came to the defense of Brown on Friday.
“And can we put Jalen Brown in the MVP Talk this is just ridiculous how did he not get POTM More Celtic hate but we use to it,” Paul Pierce wrote in a post on X.
As Brown might be ready to turn the page on the Player of the Month snub, he seemed more bothered by something else during his Twitch stream on Friday.
“They said we were supposed to tank, that we was supposed to be this, we was supposed to be that. Keep that same energy,” Brown said. “We’re No. 3 in the East. How did we go from tanking to being third in the East and moving up? I don’t see the same energy. That’s the only problem that I have. We should be hearing more talk about what’s going on right now.
“But I just want y’all to remember, they said we was going to win 30 games this year. Y’all gotta keep that in mind when I come with the energy, because they was being disrespectful and then they just wanna turn the page as if they weren’t being disrespectful.”
The Celtics have been one of the NBA’s top surprises this season, holding a 21-12 record ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the Clippers. Of course, Boston is doing this without Jayson Tatum and after saying goodbye to several key players from its 2024 championship team over the offseason, causing its preseason win total over/under to be set at 41.5.
As the Celtics are on pace to surpass that mark, Brown only sees the team getting improving.
“We’re going to keep winning games,” Brown said. “We’re going to keep getting better. We’re going to keep being humble. We’re going to keep working on the details.”
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