File this one under ‘not exactly surprising.’
It turns out, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown played the entirety of his team’s 11-game playoff run with a partially torn meniscus, according to reports first published by ESPN.
Brown, a four-time All-Star, missed the final three games of the regular season before returning to Boston’s starting lineup in time for its first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. In the Celtics’ two playoff series, culminating in a Game 6 loss to the New York Knicks last Friday, Brown averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 rebounds in 36.5 rebounds per game.
“I don’t make excuses,” Brown told reporters after Boston’s Game 6 loss. “Obviously, it’s tough the way we went out like tonight, but the way we finished the year, personally, the way I finished the year, persevering through some physical stuff that I was battling through, I’m proud of our group.”
Initially diagnosed as a bone bruise in his right knee, Brown reportedly began receiving injections for pain management in March. Sources told ESPN he’d be reevaluated this week to determine whether surgery may be needed.
Though Brown clearly wasn’t at full strength during his team’s postseason run, the 28-year-old was a pivotal player in each of Boston’s six wins. His best performances, perhaps, came in Boston’s two wins without six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum.
Tatum sustained a wrist injury in Boston’s Game 1 win over the Magic in the first round. Brown led a Tatum-less Celtics squad to a 2-0 series lead behind a game-high 36-point effort. He finished 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and tallied five assists in 42 minutes of action.
“He came in saying he was going to do everything it takes to win,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brown’s Game 2 performance. “You just trust that mindset, really the warrior mentality that he has. He can take it to another level mentally and physically.”
In the second round, after Tatum went down with a ruptured Achilles tendon in the waning moments of Boston’s Game 4 loss to the Knicks, Brown again came up big. This time, Brown wasn’t the leading scorer — that honor went to Derrick White, who finished with a game-high 34 points. Instead, the injured superstar finished with a near-triple-double of 26 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds to help his team stave off elimination and secure the victory.
When his teammates needed him most, especially in the absence of Tatum, Brown delivered.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is just kind of trust in Jaylen, and trust in his work, trust in his process and also trust in the training staff and the sports science and the guys that put the time in all the time,” Mazzulla said of Brown in addressing his knee prior to the start of the playoffs. “I trust that he’ll be ready to go when it matters most.”
If Brown does need surgery, he won’t be the first Celtics player in recent history to undergo a procedure to repair a torn meniscus. Former Celtics centers Daniel Theis and Robert Williams III both underwent similar surgeries, with Theis undergoing a season-ending procedure in 2018 and Williams missing about a month following his procedure in 2022.
Theis is now a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, while Williams is a Portland Trailblazer.
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