Jaylen Brown delivered a blunt assessment of the league’s current landscape, saying that star players who want the MVP award must “sell your soul” and “be a flopper.”
The Boston guard made the comments while discussing how foul-drawing trends have shaped individual accolades, stating, via HoopsHype, “If you want to be a great player, you gotta sell your soul. You gotta be a flopper. If you want to be MVP — you want to be top of the top — you gotta sell your soul and just be a flopper.”
Brown added that adopting those tactics is something he could technically learn, saying, “I could do it. I could start going to practice and like, working on… like working on throwing my head, you know what I mean?”
His remarks arrive with Boston holding a 15–9 record and Brown producing one of the strongest scoring seasons of his career, averaging 29.1 points in 33.7 minutes across 23 games. The veteran has also contributed 6.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists, serving as the Celtics’ primary offensive anchor while maintaining career-best efficiency inside the arc.
Over the past decade, the award has frequently gone to stars whose free-throw volume serves as a key part of their scoring profiles, including James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2024–25 MVP, also generated a large share of his offense from driving into contact and getting to the line.
Brown has long leaned on strength-based drives and mid-range physicality rather than exaggerated contact, making his remarks a direct critique of how modern foul-drawing influences the league’s hierarchy.
