Jaylen Brown says that a potential boycott of the NBA Finals could ensue in protest against rampant gun violence within the USA.
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Jaylen Brown is quite the educated man. He was offered an internship at NASA and was named a ‘fellow’ at MIT. These accolades of his actually led to teams in the NBA shying away from drafting him during the 2016 draft. Eventually, the Boston Celtics would go on to pick Brown up 3rd overall and fast-forward 6 years later, they’re in the NBA Finals.
Amidst these 2022 Playoffs however, the United States has seen an increase in gun violence. The unfortunate shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde was the tipping point as various members of the Warriors and Celtics were livid during their press conferences.
Steve Kerr had the most powerful statement during it all, calling out senators for not passing the HR8 bill that would have stricter background checks for the purchase of arms.
Jaylen Brown was asked about these shootings and gave an answer that could potentially divulge into the 2022 NBA Finals halting.
Jaylen Brown hints towards a potential boycott of the NBA Finals.
Jaylen Brown has also been an activist when it came to racial and social injustices. Gun violence against various minorities would certainly not sit well with the All-Star and he opened up potentially boycotting the Finals as a response to the recent tragedies.
“It could. You keep an open mind and you never know. Definitely things need to be addressed. Sometimes people argue, ‘stopping a basketball game, what affect is that going to have?’ I would say that it raises awareness and that’s important,” said Brown.
When talking about the killing of Jacob Blake during an interview prior to the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Jaylen would say, “I understand the amount of pain, the amount of frustration that goes through these neighborhoods when they lose somebody.”
The most recent example of a Playoff game being boycotted in the NBA was two years ago when George Hill led the charge in refusing to play Game 5 against the Magic in response to Jacob Blake situation