Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown recently appeared on a live stream with streamer PlaqueBoyMax. Their topics of conversation included a surprising admission about who the 2024 NBA Finals MVP considers the most challenging player he has had to cover.
Brown also revealed his five favorite basketball players. While no Celtics are on his list, a pair of Los Angeles Lakers all-time greats made the cut.
"I'm going to go Kobe Bryant, LeBron [James], Steph[en] Curry, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady," shared Brown, who has trained with McGrady in the offseason in the past. "Shout out to Mac, that's the big homie," said Brown of the Basketball Hall of Famer.
The reason no Celtics made Jaylen Brown's list
The four-time All-Star's top-five favorite basketball players appear to be a group of stars that he grew up watching. Even Curry was someone Brown got to see up close during his year at the University of California, Berkeley.
So, while Brown could have chosen a historical figure like Bill Russell, he selected those who meant most to him while growing up and falling in love with the game of basketball.
That's no reason for Celtics fans to get worked up about. The 2024 Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award winner has also made it abundantly clear what that titanic figure on and off the court means to him. The same goes for Brown's repeated reinforcement about how he feels about the franchise he stars for and the region it resides in.
The Marietta, Georgia native has spent most of his offseason in Boston. In his nine years there, he has built an unbreakable bond with the city. He is heavily involved and invested in the community.
That includes doing so through Boston XChange. It's a non-profit initiative that launched last summer to generate $5 billion in generational wealth in communities of color.
Brown's initiatives also include the 7uice Foundation, dedicated to fighting systemic racism. There's also the Bridge Program. The latter works with the Community Biotechnology Initiative at the MIT Media Lab to provide science and technology opportunities for children in Boston's underserved communities.
There should be no questioning Brown's commitment to Boston. The same goes for his giving his all to the Celtics. He has repeatedly returned as a better player after the offseason.
That, most notably, includes becoming an All-NBA Second Team selection in the 2022-23 campaign. For an encore, his evolution as a facilitator and on-ball defender turned him into the MVP of the Eastern Conference and NBA Finals in 2023-24.
And last postseason, days after Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles, Brown led a team that was running on fumes to a Game 5 victory vs. the New York Knicks.
The 28-year-old wing registered 26 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists that night. He hounded Jalen Brunson, pressing him in the backcourt and preventing the Knicks' star guard from finding his rhythm.
There was also a play where Brown went airborne, diving into the Celtics' bench for a steal. After the win, Joe Mazzulla told this author that it "changed the game."
It was a night where Brown added to his Celtics legacy.