Paul Pierce sounds off on the ‘lack of respect’ Jaylen Brown is getting in award conversations

Boston Celtics

“Is there any player (more like) Rodney Dangerfield in the NBA? You know what I mean by that. Dangerfield always gets no respect.”

Paul Pierce sighed when he was asked whether or not Jaylen Brown was deserving of the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award for December.

The award went to Knicks guard Jaylen Brunson. Brown averaged more points, rebounds, blocks, and steals than Brunson during the month while shooting higher percentages from the field and from 3-point range.

The Celtics also recently overtook the Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings, climbing to second after winning eight of their last 10 games. The Knicks are 4-6 over their last 10.

“I’ve been saying this about Jaylen Brown for years now,” Pierce said during a recent appearance on “No Fouls Given.” “There’s not a better two-way player – I said this about three or four years ago – he’s the best two way player in the NBA. Now he’s being able to showcase his skills on a whole new level minus Jayson Tatum.”

“He’s showing you. Is there any player (more like) Rodney Dangerfield in the NBA? You know what I mean by that. Dangerfield always gets no respect.”

After missing out on the award, Brown made some comments about it on his Twitch stream and reportedly texted coach Joe Mazzulla asking to guard Kawhi Leonard ahead of the Celtics’ matchup with the Clippers. Both Leonard and Brown had been named Player of the Week for their respective conferences.

Brown responded by dropping a season-high 50 points on 18-for-26 shooting. Leonard had 22 points on 6-for-17 shooting as the Celtics cruised to a 146-115 win.

“I just wanted to win; last game on the road trip, I wanted to finish out strong,” Brown said. “I believe I’m the best two-way player in the world. So I just wanted to come out and show it.”

Pierce listed several reasons why he believes Brown is not getting the proper amount of respect.

“He was left off of the Olympic team. I mean, he’s just completely off the Olympic team. Like, what? Just completely left [off] like ‘no, we’d rather have these other guys’ but not this guy.

“He got snubbed by the shoe companies, so you know what ‘I’m going to go out and make my own shoe’,” Pierce added. “Now he doesn’t get Player of the Month, and I just said this last week. He’s not even in the MVP discussion.”

Last month, ESPN conducted a straw poll of 100 league insiders on where players stood in the races for the postseason awards. Brown finished ninth in the MVP category of the poll and received zero first, second, or third place votes. He received 11 out of the 100 possible votes.

Oklahoma City’s Chai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic were the runaway favorites, with Los Angeles’ Luka Doncic in a distant third.

Jokic has since suffered a hyperextended knee injury and is expected to be reevaluated several weeks from now.

“Now that Joker has gone down, he’s probably going to be ineligible,” Pierce said. “Right now my MVP rankings are SGA, Jaylen Brown one-two. As of today.”

Pierce said he could relate to missing out on accolades while playing at a high level for the Celtics.

“The lack of a respect that we get as an organization, our players, I can’t anymore. So, we’re just going to keep scooting along as the greatest franchise … but I love it. Don’t give us nothing. The simple fact that he didn’t get that, look what he’s doing. It’s going to keep him on edge and I like this type of Jaylen Brown on edge.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.