Boston Celtics

Forsberg: Jaylen Brown's All-NBA Honor Is Great News for Celtics' Core

Celtics star Jaylen Brown has been selected to the All-NBA team for the first time in his career. Our Chris Forsberg shared his live reaction on "Celtics Post Up."

Forsberg: Jaylen's All-NBA honor is great news for C's core originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

In case it wasn't already clear that the Boston Celtics boast arguably the best duo in the NBA, the league confirmed it on Wednesday.

Jayson Tatum was selected to the 2022-23 All-NBA First Team and Jaylen Brown was named to the Second Team. It's Tatum's second consecutive All-NBA nod and the first of Brown's career. They represent the first set of Celtics teammates to make All-NBA in the same season since Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2008.

Forsberg: Celtics are in a familiar spot, but this year feels different

Our Chris Forsberg shared his reaction to Brown's selection live on Wednesday's Celtics Post Up.

"The cool thing is that he landed on Second-Team All-NBA," Forsberg said. "What an accomplishment for a player who was sort of knocking on the door of, 'Where does he rank? Is he a top-15 guy in the NBA?' And for him to really kick that down this year, in a year where he knew the contract status loomed over everything, is impressive to me."

Sixers fans are feeling confident with a 3-2 Philly lead going into Game 6, which the Celtics must win to keep their season alive.

In addition to validating Brown's status as one of the game's best, the All-NBA selection also has significant financial implications. The 26-year-old is now eligible to sign a five-year, $ 290 million "supermax" contract extension with the Celtics this offseason.

"The ability for the Celtics to put that contract in front of him is monstrous," Forsberg said. "Because now you get a chance to lock up your core. The other thing here at play, Tatum is now eligible for a supermax in the summer of 2024. It's going to be like $314 million over five years. That's a lot of money, a half-billion dollars between your two superstars. And yet, knowing that you're going to have that core moving forward, sure makes Brad Stevens' life a little bit easier. He's got to fill in the parts around them and make sure they've got the right guys, but there's no reason why Jaylen shouldn't be intrigued by this offer."

Forsberg adds that because of Brown's honor, the Celtics will avoid what likely would have been a dramatic and distracting storyline during the 2023-24 campaign.

"I think it's a little bit of a slam dunk at this point for those two sides to sit down and say, 'OK, are we taking this thing deep into the future?' And what a luxury, because the Celtics could only offer him four (years), $ 190 million, even with the new CBA had it not triggered the All-NBA," he said.

"I think Jaylen probably would have played out next season. It would've been a huge storyline, it would've lingered over everything. But now, you can actually get to the table this summer and maybe, depending on how everything ends, there's a chance to feel pretty good about knowing your core guys are here deep into the future."

The news sets up an interesting summer for Brown and the Celtics. But first and foremost, the focus will be on a do-or-die Game 6 in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

You can watch the full "Celtics Post Up" segment below.

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