A positive sign for Jaylen Brown’s status ahead of the Celtics’ season opener

Jaylen Brown was a full participant in the Celtics' Monday practice, head coach Joe Mazzulla said.

After being pulled from the preseason finale against the Raptors with left hamstring tightness, Brown practiced Friday but sat out the live periods. He said he wasn’t concerned when he exited the game, citing he felt it was “maybe a little tweak” when he went down.

“We’ll take it one game at a time, but as of now I feel great,” Brown said.

The Celtics will rely on Brown even more than they had in previous seasons, largely because Jayson Tatum is expected to miss a majority of the season, if not all of it. Brown has accomplished feats — such as being the NBA Finals MVP in 2024 — that have proven himself ahead of his 10th NBA season, but 2025-26 will be the first time he will be the primary option for a team. He has yet to be named to an All-NBA Team in multiple seasons, earning a selection to the second team only once. Tatum has earned All-NBA recognition five times.

Also at Celtics practice was former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who was fired after leading his team to an upset second-round series win over the Celtics before losing to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Thibodeau’s departure from the Knicks was unexpected, given his success with the franchise over his five seasons. He increased his win total in each of the previous three campaigns before posting a 51-season and leading New York to its deepest postseason run in 25 years.

“That was awesome having [Thibodeau at practice],” Brown said. “Obviously, they eliminated us last year. So him being able to kind of give us some of the thoughts that he saw in that series and some of the stuff that they broke down in our personnel — or even our team — helps us grow and learn from that.”