Agentless Jaylen Brown Confesses Redemption on Draft Night After Rebelling Against the Norm

Jaylen Brown recently revealed that he went into the NBA Draft without an agent. The Finals MVP said that he didn’t see value in having an agent because they were asking for too much of his money. Ultimately, though, Brown thought that the move was the correct decision. Additionally, he continues to support players who want to empower themselves through self-representation today.

Brown might have been the highest-ever projected NBA prospect to enter the draft without an agent. The former UC Berkley product was selected by the Celtics with the third overall pick in 2016. It was the same draft that featured Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram. 

Brown talked about why he didn’t want to be represented recently on the MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME podcast. 

“When I was evaluating, I went through the whole process and sat with a bunch of people,” Brown shared. “What they was offering I ain’t really need. I leaned on the [NBA] union a lot more.”

NBA players are allowed to receive agent representation, but only after they’ve been drafted. So, Brown was going into the draft alone. That’s why he eventually decided to explore what an agent was offering.

But it was the price of an agent’s services that caught Brown off guard. He said that the amount they were asking for was far too much.

“Standard agent fee is 4%. So I’m starting to do the math. A house, car, and all that, whatever you was offering, was a lot less than what 4% would’ve been. Long story short, the math wasn’t mathing for me.”

So, Brown decided to go into draft night without an agent. Little did he know he was going to face slander from behind the scenes because of it. Yet, it didn’t matter because he was still selected in the top three picks.

“I ended up being the third pick even though because I came in like that, a lot of the agents tried to slander my name a little bit. Put it in the media that he’s too this, he’s too that. It ended up backfiring,” he recalled. 

Today, Brown does have agent representation. Jason Glushon helped negotiate his five-year, $304 million supermax extension in 2023. But he still supports stars who don’t have one. 

Jaylen Brown showed support to SGA

On February 18th, it was reported that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had parted ways with his agent ahead of signing a max extension this summer. SGA is set to sign a four-year, $294 million deal that will net him $80 million per season.

With no representation, he’ll be saving money on agent fees and earning the maximum amount of potential money. It’s a savvy play by the Canadian.

Brown reacted to the news of SGA’s parting of ways by saying he loved it. It only makes sense now that we know that he came into the league without representation himself.

Sometimes, when a player knows they are going to make a lot of money, there’s no need to be represented by an agent. It only costs them more and takes away from their potential earnings. It’s a must for some players, but for stars like Brown and SGA, it’s not necessary.