“When I first got traded, I threw my phone across the room.”
I can’t believe how similar Jaylen Brown’s reaction to his trade from the Boston Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers was to mine.
Brown was introduced to the Philadelphia media on Thursday afternoon, just over a month after being dealt to one of Boston’s biggest rivals. The introductory presser made the entire thing feel real, even with Brown having gone live on Twitch a few times since -- which is where he spoke about the trade for the first time.
He said that something “went left” during the exit saga, and before that point, the communication had been open between him and the front office. It doesn’t seem like time has healed this one yet.
When prompted on what specifically went wrong, he wouldn’t budge but clearly wasn’t thinking back on the exit fondly.
“The whole process,” he responded. “But to be honest, I don’t even — my mind is so focused on what’s in front of me. To be honest, I’m moving on.”
Philadelphia’s roster stacks up with the best of the NBA quite well. Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, V.J. Edgecombe, and LeBron James make up a killer starting five. So, JB has plenty to move on to.
Jaylen Brown is thankful for Boston, not the Celtics
The 2024 NBA Finals MVP didn’t have any words for the Celtics at all. In fact, he purposely strayed away from talking about the organization throughout the availability. That tells you all you need to know about how things ended.
He was asked about what he’d remember and take away from his time there, and he just spoke about the city and what it meant to spend his early adult years there.
"I look back at the city of Boston and I'm grateful,” he shared..” I've been able to develop as a man, as a human being there, spend a lot of time in the community, a lot of time at universities studying and 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.”
Brown grew to mean a lot in the city during his time as a Celtic. He always led by example in the city. He consistently made an effort to show up for the people of Boston, whether it was by paying a visit to students throughout the city, delivering Christmas gifts to families, or organizing and spearheading programs to bring equity to underserved communities.
Those things went a long way and built a strong bond between Brown and so many people.
The move now presents the 29-year-old with an opportunity to reach even more people as he heads to an entirely new city.
“I’m looking forward to continuing my foundation work as well as expanding it to Philadelphia. But I'm very grateful for my experience, my tenure in Boston. 10 years is a perfect cycle, perfect number for completion. 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"
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