Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown was in the midst of a breakout year this season before the 2019-20 NBA campaign was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, but perhaps his biggest contribution has come off the court.
This past weekend, Brown drove from Boston to Atlanta—near his hometown of Marietta, Ga.—to lead a peaceful march in protest of the tragic death of George Floyd.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens is very proud of Brown and feels that as terrific as he is on the hardwood, he is most impactful off of it:
“Jaylen's greatest impact, as good as he is in basketball, won't be in basketball,” said the Celtics head coach, according to Jay King of The Athletic. “He's a special guy, a special leader. He's smart but he has courage. He's got a lot of great stuff to him.”
While this is hardly the first time Jaylen Brown has spoken up as a social rights activist, it has certainly been his most publicized deed.
“I drove 15 hours to get to Georgia, my community,” the Celtics forward said over the weekend, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com. “This is a peaceful protest. Being a celebrity, being an NBA player, don't exclude me from no conversations at all. First and foremost, I'm a black man and I'm a member of this community. … We're raising awareness for some of the injustices that we've been seeing. It's not okay.”
The Celtics star is just 23 years old, but clearly, he is already wise beyond his years.
The University of California product was averaging a hefty 20.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals over 34 minutes per game prior to the hiatus.
Follow Us
Subscribe