During a press conference at All-Star weekend on Saturday, reigning NBA Finals MVP Boston Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown made a bold proclamation about how he would fare in a theoretical one-on-one tournament in the NBA.
The new Unrivaled women's basketball league, a stateside alternative to international offseason play for WNBA stars, put on a successful one-on-one tournament recently.
2024 Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, one of the Unrivaled league's co-founders (along with New York Liberty champion power forward Breanna Stewart), defeated Washington Mystics forward Aaliyah Edwards in the 1v1 tournament's three-game final.
Per Noa Dalzell of SB Nation, the 6-foot-6 swingman revealed that he believes he would thrive in that environment.
“I would win,” Brown declared.
Given that the league boasts a bevy of talented players right now, including lots of versatile wings around Brown's size, that's quite the claim. But any All-Star talent worth his salt needs to play equipped with significant self-confidence if he hopes to succeed in the league at large.
The 28-year-old Cal product, who's set to partake in his fourth All-Star contest on Sunday (this time in a new four-team mini-tournament format), is in the midst of another stellar season in Boston.
In 46 games for the 39-16 Celtics this season, Brown is averaging 22.9 points on .461/.324/.746 shooting splits, 6.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.2 steals.
Boston remains a major contender for postseason hardware yet again. The Celtics boast perhaps the league's strongest starting five, plus three terrific bench pieces. All-Stars Brown and Jayson Tatum are the club's top two talents, while All-Defensive Second Team guards Jrue Holiday and Derrick White patrol the perimeter and one-time All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis mans the middle.
Point guard Payton Pritchard has emerged as a lead Sixth Man of the Year contender, while 39-year-old reserve center/power forward Al Horford — a five-time All-Star for the Celtics and Atlanta Hawks in his prime — and backup combo forward Sam Hauser help add floor-spacing marksmanship and size to a loaded roster. Frontcourt pieces Torrey Craig, Neemias Queta and Luke Kornet are competing for the club's ninth-man role.
