After Jayson Tatum went down with an achilles injury in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, it opened the door for Jaylen Brown to take on an even more important role this season with the Celtics.
Brown has risen to the occasion so far this season, having a career year that has been recognized on the latest NBA.com MVP ladder.
Brown has been in the mix as an honorable mention on the weekly ladder, but had quite the jump on this week's updated edition, after putting together some impressive performances recently.
How far up did Jaylen Brown climb on the latest MVP ladder?
After sitting in the 7th spot on the MVP ladder last week, Brown has moved up all the way to 3rd.
He trails behind Nikola Jokic (1st) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2nd).
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In the 2025-26 NBA season, Brown is averaging 29.7 points (career high), 6.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists (career high), 11.0 field goals (leads NBA), 50.1 FG% (career high) and 37.2 3P%.
The Celtics are 21-13 in games Brown has played in this season.
The Celtics have won 13 of their last 17 games, and enter Friday as the 3rd seed in the East with a 23-13 record. They sit just 0.5 games behind the Knicks for the 2nd seed, and 4.5 games behind the Pistons for the 1st seed.
Brown is averaging 31.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists in his last 18 games played.
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