Thursday afternoon was the first time Jaylen Brown spoke to the media since getting traded by the Boston Celtics. He shared plenty of his own thoughts on his Twitch streams, but this was the media’s first chance to probe into the situation.
It was a three-pronged press conference: The community side, the Philadelphia 76ers side, and the Celtics side. The entire press conference is available here on the NBA’s YouTube channel.
Regardless of your feelings about Brown the player, Brown the human being remains a pillar of his community — whatever community that may be. That’s the foundation he wants to build his reputation on. And that’s why the location of Thursday’s press conference was so important.
Brown could have had his introductory presser at the Sixers’ facility. At Xfinity Mobile Arena. At any place connected to the 76ers. He didn’t want that. Instead, he requested that the event be held at the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center, a community hub.
“For me, and people who know my family and I, we are rooted in the community,” Brown said. “That’s where we hang our hat, is being able to affect other people’s lives. I think we’re very blessed. I think we’ve been able to help our own family and be able to kind of change the course of what our generation or our family name could possibly do. But we look forward to being able to impact others and being able to touch families and households that we may never get to see. So, being here at Francis J is, as I’m still getting to learn this community, I just wanted to make it [known] that this was an important pillar in my life and community and the foundation.”
During his time in Boston, Brown made a massive impact off the court. Perhaps most notably, he founded the Boston XChange, an organization dedicated to fostering innovation and cultural diversity, empowering under-invested creators and entrepreneurs to thrive. One of its main goals is to bridge the racial wealth gap in Boston.
Not only does he plan to continue his efforts in Boston, but Brown also wants to impact the City of Philadelphia. He wants to be more than a basketball player — he wants to be a backbone of his new community.
“As I’m getting started on the journey and embarking [on] the journey here in Philadelphia, the introduction, your first impression, is everything,” Brown said. “So, I just wanted to let people know in Philadelphia that this is something that is important to me, and my first introduction to the city through my press conference today, I think, is just an example of that. So, I’m happy to be here, and thank you to the community for allowing me to be here and hold my space here. But I’m looking forward to learning from the community, meeting some people, like-minded individuals, and doing some work. So, that’s what we’re about.”
No matter the space or situation, Brown has made a conscious decision to put the community first. That’s where he wants his legacy to lie. Not on the court, but in the city.
© Bill Streicher
Jaylen Brown with local kids he invited from the community
Then, there’s the Philadelphia side of things. Brown is joining a stacked roster. Maybe the most stacked roster in basketball. Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe, and LeBron James. But he’s ready for that part of the challenge. “It doesn’t have to be anybody’s team,” Brown said. “It just needs to be based in respect and work, and that’s kind of my approach. I want to earn everybody’s respect and trust, which takes time.”
Brown is fresh off what he deemed to be his favorite season of his career. Part of that had to do with the Celtics’ ability to outperform expectations, but a small piece of the pie was likely that he became the top option — both on the court and in the locker room.
He was the guy. The top dog. The loudest voice and the person the Celtics ran through last season. Now, he’s entering a situation where there may be more talent ahead of him — or at least, alongside him — than ever.
“Obviously, it’s a lot of guys with talent and some egos, but to win, you got to be able to sacrifice,” Brown said. “You got to be able to have trust and communication. So, I want to come in transparent. I want to come in with my agenda on the table. Look, this is what I’m here to do. This is what I want to do. I want to win, and we kind of can figure out how to respectfully move around each other.”
But right now, nothing but championships matter to Brown. Awards, stats, and individual accolades have been thrown out the window. He just wants another ring. This time, in Philadelphia.
“At this point in my career, nothing else really moves me,” Brown said. “I don’t care about the outside success. I never did. I don’t care about the MVP awards or Finals MVP. None of that stuff really moves me. It’s nice, but the only thing that’s gonna move me is doing something collectively, so a championship.”
© Bill Streicher
Mike Gansey, David Blitzer, Jaylen Brown, and Josh Harris (left to right)
The Boston side of things may have been the most intriguing. Not just for a Boston audience, but for the national audience, too. It may not have sounded like he said much, but there were some hidden messages to be pulled from his statements.
“It’s been a lot of emotions. You know what I mean? It’s been a process,” Brown said. “To be honest, I’m still processing to some degree. Just, one, the excitement of coming to a new city, new place, new expectations, new energy. Then also leaving somewhere that you’ve been for a very, very long time. I’ve been in Boston for 10 years. I’m 29 years old, so I was there a third of my life. I met some people, some lifelong friends, some people I’ll still be connected to. But in anything that [involves] starting something new, it’s an end of something else. So just a process, just like everybody else has to deal with certain things, it’s no different, but it’s just been public. So that’s the only difference.”
That much makes sense. Getting shipped out of the place you’ve spent a decade of your life in is a weird situation to have to deal with. Sadness. Anger. Brown said that the first thing he did when he learned about the trade was throw his phone across the room.
Yet he decided not to expand on things. He didn’t want to feed into the drama. Right now, he just wants to move on with his career.
“My mind is so focused on what’s in front of me. To be honest, I’m moving on,” Brown said. “Maybe one day [we] share the details of kind of how everything transpired and all the moving parts that took place in this. Obviously, it’s a lot of speculation. I feel no need to chime in on it because I’m focused on what’s in front of me.”
Brown did, however, take a chance to thank the City of Boston. As noted, his work in the community is a core principle of who he is as a person. And for the last 10 years, that’s taken place in Boston. So, as far as the fans, the people, and the community, Brown is thankful.
“I look back at the City of Boston, and I’m grateful. I’ve been able to develop as a man, as a human being there,” Brown said. “Spend a lot of time in the community, a lot of time at universities, studying, learning, figuring out how to approach how I wanted to go about my philanthropy, figure out how I wanted to approach how to carry myself. A lot of my most important years, my most developmental years as a young man, I spent in Boston. I got there at 19. I didn’t do a four-year degree because I left early, so I spent time- I got my degree in Boston, in a sense. I spent time there.
“So, the relationships are still there. The connection is still there. I’m looking forward to continuing my foundation work, and as well as expanding it here to Philadelphia. But I’m very grateful for my experience, my tenure in Boston. Ten years is a perfect cycle, perfect number for completion. So, we won a championship, and I have nothing but respect for the City of Boston. But now it’s time to move forward a little bit.”
© Bill Streicher
Jaylen Brown and his grandfather, Willie Brown
But there was a subgenre. A subplot of the Boston portion of the press conference. It may not have been super obvious, outside of a single line of questioning, but there was a Jayson Tatum piece of the puzzle, too.
Bobby Manning of CLNS Media directly asked Brown about his relationship with Tatum. Brown’s response? Nothing but respect.
“We won a championship together. So, anybody that you win a championship with, you would think like that’s what a brotherhood or a lifelong legacy would entail,” Brown said. “Obviously, there’s ups and downs in any type of relationship for sure, but on my end, it’s nothing but respect. Besides when he plays the Sixers, I hope he does well. But other than that, everything for me is just based in respect.”
However, Manning had a follow-up. Have you gotten the chance to speak with Tatum since the trade? Brown’s response was short: “Not really.”
Not. Really. So, a brief text? A small exchange of words? Or was this just Brown’s kind way of saying the two haven’t spoken? My bet is placed firmly on the latter of the three options.
Plus, there was a subtle jab. At least, a statement that may have been a jab thrown Tatum’s way. During a recent camp, Tatum stated that he doesn’t want to be around a person who tries to be the smartest in the room.
“Being around somebody that feels like they know it all, I don’t wanna be around that person,” Tatum said. “I don’t wanna be the smartest person in the room, I want to learn from somebody else.”
Obviously, that was immediately interpreted as a shot at Brown. And when discussing how excited he is to learn from James, this is what Brown had to say on Thursday afternoon.
