2. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Fresh off winning the 2024 NBA Finals MVP award, Jaylen Brown makes a huge jump in these rankings. After the 2022-23 season, there were many who were down on Brown's performance in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, he more than made up for that with a dominant showing in the NBA Finals to help the Boston Celtics clinch the championship. Heading into this season, there are entirely new expectations for him moving forward. Now that he's won an NBA Finals MVP, he's expected to embrace that superstar role from now on. And not just in the playoffs, but every night.
How Brown handles those types of expectations is a concern but there's no question he has the talent and ability to do so. Brown is clearly one of the best starting small forwards in the league heading into this season and continues to be one of the best and most impactful two-way forwards.
Brown will probably never be considered the best player on the Celtics as long as Jayson Tatum is on the roster but it's impossible to deny his talent and production through the first few years of his career in the Association.