Jaylen Brown Calls Out NBA’s “Politicking” After Brutal Snub for Jalen Brunson

Jaylen Brown made his feelings clear after losing the NBA POTM award to Jalen Brunson.

Jaylen Brown Calls Out NBA’s “Politicking” After Brutal Snub for Jalen Brunson

Jalen Brunson (Left) and Jaylen Brown (Right) (Image credits - Firstsportz)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

When two players put in performances like Jaylen Brown and Jalen Brunson have in the month of December, there is bound to be some controversy when one player is chosen over the other. And that is exactly what has happened after Brunson was awarded the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award despite Brown collecting the Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors twice during December.

Alongside Jalen Brunson, reigning league-MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named as the Western Conference Player of the Month. Brunson is coming off an impressive stretch in the month of December as he helped the New York Knicks win the 2025 NBA Cup and was named the NBA Cup MVP. The Knicks guard has become a huge fan-favorite in the city of New York as he delivered the team’s first title in 52 years. In December, Brunson was averaging 30.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 7.1 assists.

For the first time in his career, Jaylen Brown is the primary scorer of his team as Jayson Tatum continues to work his way back from a long-term injury. Brown averaged 31.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists in December but it was his efficiency that caught everyone’s eye as he shot 53.8 percent from the field and connected on 42.6 percent of his three-point attempts. He scored at least 30 points in nine of Boston’s 10 December games.

Brunson was in the headlines for his comments on flopping to win the MVP award on his stream before. After finding out he lost the award to Brunson, Brown made headlines once again and had one word to say – “Politics.”

That was not it. He had some words to share on his stream once again.

Honestly, I’m not gonna say too much but I’m gonna be honest. No disrespect, no diss to Shai or Brunson. But neither one of them had a better month than I had.

The Celtics went 9-3 in the 12 games Brown featured in December, while the Knicks went 10-4 with Brunson during the same period. It appears that winning the NBA Cup and being MVP of the tournament played a role in Brunson winning the award.

Jaylen Brown reacts on social media to the snub

The two clashed in the final month of the year as well as the Knicks took on the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The Celtics won the match, and Brown scored 42 points, outdueling Brunson, who recorded a double-double on the night.

As of January 3, the Knicks sit at second in the Eastern Conference standings with a 23-11 record while the Celtics are one place behind and are at 21-12, highlighting how impactful Brown has been for them this season despite missing their star player.

Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown (Image credits – Sky Sports)

After the announcement of the POTM winners, Brown’s reaction on X went viral, as he posted “smh”.

The former Finals MVP winner has won six Player of the Week awards so far in his career, but has yet to be awarded the Player of the Month award. Hence, Brown is disappointed to have missed out on the award once again.

Jaylen Brown deserves to be in the MVP conversation

Very few would have expected the Celtics to be competitive this season. Following a long-term injury to Tatum and the Celtics’ management deciding to trade Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to free up their salary cap, the club decided to break up their 2024 NBA Championship-winning roster.

But with Brown leading the charge and playing at an MVP level, they have seen them defy all the odds. A little over one-third of the 2025-26 campaign completed, Boston have a good chance of making it to the playoffs directly by making it into the top-six in the East.

Former Celtics player Paul Pierce shared his thoughts on Brown’s MVP case on the No Fouls Given podcast.

Everybody hates the Celtics. No, seriously, why isn’t he? Nobody had the Celtics being in the third seed with no Tatum. The guy is putting up 30 consistently. Everybody is talking about Cade; they (the Pistons) are No. 1, I get it. Everybody is talking about Wemby, I get it. But this guy has to get some type of recognition. This guy is a 30-point walking bucket.

With reports that Tatum may make his return towards the end of the regular season, the Celtics fans will be hopeful that their club can make some noise in the Eastern Conference, considering how good they have been without Tatum.

Also Read: