Jaylen Brown Says This Former NBA Champion Is His "Favorite Celtic Of All Time"

Jaylen Brown belongs to the latest crop of Boston Celtics stars, a rich lineage that has decades’ worth of memorable moments in the NBA. It may be difficult, then, for someone like Brown to choose just one Celtics great who stands out to him the most.

Interestingly, Brown was able to do just that in a recent livestream. “KG is probably my favorite Celtic of all time,” the 29-year-old forward said.

There are no surprises with Brown’s choice, as he was an adolescent when Kevin Garnett led the Celtics to a storybook title run in 2008. Prior to that season, Garnett and Ray Allen shook the NBA’s foundations when they decided to team up with homegrown talent Paul Pierce in Beantown.

All three were grizzled vets who were hungry for a championship back then, but what made Garnett special in Brown’s eyes? “I love the intensity that KG has always brought to the game,” he explained. “He just plays the game with a rage and a fire that I resonate with. It ain’t no friends. It’s war.”

The stories of Garnett’s insatiable desire to compete have been told time and time again, and for an aspiring youth like Brown, KG’s intensity was a trait to aspire to. While Pierce provided steady leadership and Allen let his sweet shooting do the talking, Garnett was just as vocal in pushing his teammates beyond their limits as he was prolific with his verbal warfare against opponents.

“Ain’t no smiling, ain’t no laughing,” Brown added. “It’s win or die.”

Though Brown’s playing style is closer to Pierce’s than Garnett’s, the 2024 Finals MVP does share similarities with The Big Ticket. Both of them are respectable shooters from the perimeter who take advantage of their size to exploit mismatches. Brown, though, can take his game to a different level if he emulates Garnett’s proficiency on the defensive end. If the current Celtics star can provide on-ball coverage with the same ferocity as the 2004 NBA MVP, he’ll drastically raise his stock.

Garnett was only able to win one title during his time in Boston, but Brown can potentially exceed that if he and Jayson Tatum decide to prolong the existence of their fearsome tandem. Then, down the line, some young man might tell the world that Brown is his favorite Celtic ever.