ESPN's Biggest Celtics Concern Isn't a Surprise

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The Boston Celtics are still seen as title contenders entering the 2026-27 NBA season. They just have one big Jaylen Brown question to answer.

Ahead of the NBA preseason, ESPN broke down the biggest under-the-radar concern for the teams with the best chances of winning the championship this season.

Included on the list is the Celtics. Their biggest concern? How to replace Brown's production.

"But who will be the offensive threat that Brown was alongside Tatum?" wrote ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "Paul George averaged more than 20 points per game in 2023-24 with the Clippers, but he hasn't played more than 41 games in either of the past two seasons. Payton Pritchard could be the biggest winner of the Brown trade for the Celtics. Can he continue his offensive progression and become a 20-point-per-game scorer? Derrick White also could see an uptick in scoring. And perhaps Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh will take advantage of the void left by Brown."

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There's been a lot of chatter this offseason about how valuable Brown actually is, but there's no denying that he was one of the best players in the NBA last season.

With Jayson Tatum sidelined, Brown averaged a career-best 28.7 points to go along with 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He earned his fifth All-Star selection, his second All-NBA selection and found himself on the MVP ballot for the first time in his career.

As Youngmisuk explained, one player almost certainly won't replace Brown. George would've been the perfect candidate to do so earlier in his career, but he's not the two-way force he once was. Boston will need him to be more available than he was last season and for Pritchard and White to make another leap.

It helps that the Celtics will have Joe Mazzulla pulling the strings.

"Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is one of the brightest minds in the game and certainly will be looking forward to the challenge of keeping the Celtics in contention in the East," wrote Youngmisuk.

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