NEW YORK — When Kristaps Porzingis was in Boston, he was Jaylen Brown’s plane buddy. At least, dating back to the title season. “[Brown] and KP have a nice little combo kind of going,” Luke Kornet said during the 2024 NBA Finals. But when Porzingis was traded this summer, that seat next to Brown opened up.
Jordan Walsh took it.
“It was an open seat, so I just kind of moved there,” he said on Tuesday morning in New York.
Not by invitation, not by assignment. Walsh just wanted to sit with Brown.
“I just sat down,” Walsh laughed. “He doesn't get a choice.”
At the time, it may have seemed like an opportunity to pick the brain of one of the NBA’s biggest stars. A multi-time All-Star, Boston’s No. 1 option with Jayson Tatum sidelined, and Walsh’s teammate of (going on) three years.
Little did he know that a small decision at the beginning of the season might have changed the course of his NBA career.
Jaylen Brown changed the course of Jordan Walsh's season (and maybe career) with a plane conversation
Through the Boston Celtics’ first six games of the season, Walsh was an afterthought. The emergence of Josh Minott and rookie Hugo Gonzalez had left him in the background. He appeared in only three games, never playing more than 2:26.
That changed when the Houston Rockets came to town.
Houston absolutely demolished the Celtics. From the jump, Boston, on the second night of a back-to-back, looked completely outmatched. So, as the game avalanched out of control, Walsh got his first real opportunity of the season. And he capitalized. Walsh scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Then, after not playing against the Utah Jazz, a 3-of-4 three-point shooting night against the Washington Wizards put him back on the radar. He also snagged seven rebounds and two steals. It was a defining moment.
From the Washington game onward, Walsh has appeared in every single game, playing 24.8 minutes and earning two starts (in Boston’s two most recent contests). The Celtics are 4-2 over that stretch.
It all started because of a conversation with Brown.
“Earlier in the season, we were talking about how we felt like we needed a guy who can go in and guard the best player every night,” Walsh said. “He kept saying to me, he said, 'I think it's you. I think it could be you.' I was like, 'All right. I'm with you. I think so, too.'”
But this wasn’t just a motivational speech. Brown was serious. He believed that Walsh could be that type of game-changer on defense. So much so that he decided to talk to Joe Mazzulla.
“He's like, ' I'm gonna have a conversation with Joe, and we can go from there.' I was like, 'All right, cool,’” Walsh said. “So, I guess he talked to him or whatever, and then just now, it is what it is.”
Whether Brown actually had that chat with Mazzulla is unclear. “He told me he was gonna do it,” Walsh said. “I don't know if he actually did it, but he said he would. But it was really early in the season.” But based on Walsh’s uptick in opportunities, it seems more likely than not.
“We sit next to each other on the plane, so I talk to him all the time,” Brown said after Boston’s win over the LA Clippers. “And that's what this team needs, is somebody that can go out and guard the best player every single night. And even when Jordan wasn't playing, I was telling him, 'That guy could be you.' And he's got his opportunity, and he's playing well right now. So, we got to keep that going.”
The Wizards game was the start, but nowhere close to Walsh’s defining moment. Though ‘moment’ is no longer a fair term to use. The Celtics wing parlayed two games against the Rockets and Wizards into a new role in the rotation: Star-stopper.
Following the Wizards game, Walsh was tasked with slowing down Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero in the Celtics’ two-game mini-series against the Orlando Magic. They shot 3-for-7 combined in two games, and he forced them into three turnovers. Neither made a single three.
Boston’s two-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers saw Walsh stop Tyrese Maxey—the second-leading scorer in the NBA—on three straight possessions under two minutes.
“You said what was I trying to do?” Walsh said, responding to a post-game question in Philadelphia. “Stop him from scoring.”
In six minutes matched up with Maxey, Walsh held him to 1-of-9 shooting.
He then went from chasing the quickest guard in the league to battling Jaren Jackson Jr., who shot 0-of-5 against Walsh in 3:41 during the Celtics’ blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Then, though a fourth-quarter explosion softened the story, Walsh absolutely clamped Harden. The Clippers star shot 3-of-7 against Walsh, and in the first half, he had only one made field goal.
Game after game, star after star, Walsh has created a reputation for himself. It’s a small sample size, and he has plenty of work to do, but he’s ready for it.
“I kind of did little walkthrough reps the day before, two days before, and just kind of worked on completely shutting off his left hand,” Walsh said of preparing to guard Harden. “And then, when he goes into a step-back, kind of not letting him shoot it, but not giving the refs an excuse to call a foul. Through three quarters, I think I did a great job.
“I think the team did a great job at it, guarding him. And in the fourth quarter, things kind of got away. Kind of fouls started happening. I started fouling him, and so, I put him on the line. Thankfully, we got out of the game with the win, but it's more about just the urgency of being solid.”
Harden’s left hand. Maxey’s speed. Jackson’s floater. Every star has tendencies. Moves they prefer. Walsh’s job is to take that away.
And even at 21 years old, he’s unfazed by NBA stardom. Harden is a future Hall-of-Famer. One of the greatest players of all time. But Walsh just wants to shut him down.
“I think I want to shut them down,” Walsh said when asked what he’s thinking when defending legends like Harden. “I think that I want make my mark in the league, and it starts with me defending guys like that. Obviously, all-time, great scorer, great player. But I come in and I change the game for him. I make him uncomfortable.
“I make him do things he doesn't want to do. It's a platform for me.”
It’s something he talks about with Gonzalez. He wants to make every player he guards wish that he were still glued to the bench.
“Whenever we're [subbed in] at the same time, I'm just like, 'Let's just cause havoc. Make them wish we weren't on the court,’” Walsh said. “You know what I'm saying? So, outside of that, there hasn't been much conversation, but just telling him, if we come in the game, we got to change the game.”
Now, that’s the standard for Walsh. He’s found a role as the Celtics’ fifth starter, consistently matching up with the opponent’s star. But rewind just three short weeks ago, and he was an afterthought.
Maybe this was destined to happen. Maybe Walsh was always going to get his chance; it was just a matter of when.
But without Brown, without that conversation, without the small decision to take the seat next to him on the plane, this moment in time may not have happened.
“It definitely felt like he kind of trusted in me, without even having a sort of proof of it,” Walsh said. “I mean, obviously, we have practice, and some Summer League stuff, and whatnot, but him going out of his way to have that conversation, I think makes a big difference, because it shows that he trusts me.
“And so, ever since then, I just kind of got to prove to those guys that I can be trusted.”