As Hugo Gonzalez and the Boston Celtics ramp up for their NBA Summer League campaign in Las Vegas, the dust continues to settle after their decision to trade Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brown, a 10-year-Celtic and locker room leader, will be missed by his teammates in Boston -- many of whom looked up to him as greener NBA players.
Gonzalez was one of them.
“Well, first of all, Jaylen is a Celtics legend, and everybody, [starting with me], is really really grateful because of the things he has done,” the young Spaniard told reporters at UNLV on Thursday. “Especially for me, he has been an amazing veteran player. He's been a leader for me. He's been a role model. Everybody here is grateful for him.”
Brown consistently voiced his pride in how well Gonzalez, a rookie last season, and the rest of the Celtics performed last season despite a ton of new faces and a serious lack of expectations. Ironically, his comments about it being his “favorite season” seemed to play a role as the organization slowly gravitated towards the idea of trading him away.
It makes sense, right? The five-time All-Star firing up his Twitch stream 24 hours after Boston’s season came to a premature end in the first round of the playoffs, and doubling down on his enjoyment came off as odd.
How could this have been Brown’s favorite season? Boston failed to advance in the playoffs for the first time ever when he was active, and they’d won an NBA Championship just two years prior.
Jaylen Brown played a huge role in helping last year's Celtics team gel
It’s pretty simple. The 29-year-old embraced the group, did what he could to help them gel together, and led from the front.
“Yeah, of course. I mean, [there were] a lot of differences, a lot of new players in the organization, and he just wanted us to be a team from the first day and JB, was big time,” Gonzalez told Hardwood Houdini back in March. “He planned things in the summer, to make it happen so it just helps us be more in solidarity.”
Given Brown’s diverse portfolio of roles during his time with the Cs, having been a bench player as a rookie and then growing to the point where he won NBA Finals MVP in 2024, he was able to give advice to just about everyone on the roster.
“He's a guy that has been [in the league] 10 plus years,” the rookie explained. “He's an NBA champion, and he's got a lot of experience and has been in a lot of different roles. He's also the person that he's easy to talk with, and that is always available to help anybody, and he's a leader on off the court. So yeah, it's easy to talk to him.”
With Brown’s time in Boston officially finished, there should be plenty of opportunities for Gonzalez and other young wings on the roster to earn a larger role and take the next step in their young careers.
“Just trying to look forward, trying to see what's coming, and from here, try to keep building.”
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