Boston Celtics
“Basketball the game is ruthless, if teams know you have an injury they’re going to try to force you to that.”
Jaylen Brown driving left and embracing contact, drawing a foul vs. Oklahoma City. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
Many of Jaylen Brown’s past critics have been silenced this season as the Celtics superstar propelled himself into the MVP conversation without Jayson Tatum.
But there have been plenty of fierce criticisms of one specific aspect of Brown’s game in the past: his left hand.
For a sizable chunk of his career, Brown struggled when forced to his left side, frequently losing his dribble and struggling to drive the lane with the same ferocity that he would to his right.
It’s something that’s improved over the last two seasons, and that has been largely due to Brown’s clean bill of health. When Brown was struggling the most driving to his left, it coincided with a serious left wrist injury he was working through on the court.
“I think there was some truth to it,” Brown told NBC Sports Boston’s Brian Scalabrine. “I got a big scar right here, I had a major surgery on my left wrist, and then I actually re-injured it again in 2023.
“So, 2021 I had a major injury where I tore all the ligaments in my left hand. And basketball the game is ruthless, if teams know you have an injury they’re going to try to force you to that.”
Jaylen Brown on the jokes about him having no left:
“I think there was some truth to it. I had a major surgery on my left wrist in 2021 and then I reinjured it in 2023… at one point I could barely dribble the ball with my left hand.”
(h/t @lockedupjb) pic.twitter.com/AUNKMtbxCZ
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 4, 2026
Since fixing his wrist again in 2023, Brown hasn’t had any real issues with it, and it’s shown on the court. He drives more confidently to the left now, and has been a clear scoring threat on either side of the court.
“I think that was a real criticism or critique of my game is that I struggled going left, but a lot of that was due to injury,” Brown said. “And as I’ve gotten more healthy, I’ve done stem cells and stuff like that in my wrist. It’s helped improve the flexibility and the motion, and I’ve been able to get back to being more progressive with my left hand.
“At one point I could barely dribble the ball with my left hand at times.”
Those issues are in the rearview mirror, and Brown’s tracking for the best offensive season of his career. His 28.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game this season are all career-highs as he flirted with MVP conversations and carried Boston to a top-4 playoff seed without much of a supporting cast around him.
This season, Brown proved that it isn’t Batman and Robin in Boston. Brown is a bonafide star, especially when he can generate scoring from anywhere on the floor.
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