Jaylen Brown is not your typical superstar. Sure, he’s a Finals MVP and one of the most prolific wing players in the NBA right now, but it’s his extra-curriculars that make him stand out. He’s an avid chess player, can speak multiple languages, and in 2018, gave a lecture at the prestigious Harvard University. He’s always been vocal about his pursuit of education in his youth, and he reiterated that in a recent interview.
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Brown sat down with Chris Mannix for a special “One on One” issue of Sports Illustrated, and he discussed not only what he views his role as a professional athlete in society to be, but why he feels so strongly about it.
Spoiler alert: it’s because of how he was brought up, and the strong role that getting a comprehensive education played in it.
“It was not negotiable. It was kind of the mindset. It was anything below an A, it was unsatisfactory. You needed to be trying your best. And maybe if my best would’ve only been a B, [my family] would’ve accepted that, but that wasn’t my best. So they didn’t accept anything less than an A. I didn’t get a B until high school.”
Brown attended UC Berkeley, rather than more traditional basketball powerhouses because of the importance he and his family have always placed on education. Since joining the NBA, he’s given lectures at places like Harvard, MIT, and Morehouse College on a wide variety of topics that include wealth disparity and systemic inequality, and he’s been an active community leader in the Boston area.
Jaylen Brown wants his legacy to go beyond the basketball court
There are certain expectations that come with being a pro athlete, not all of them positive, but Brown is trying to change the way athletes see and value both themselves and their place in the world. When Mannix asked him who had the most influence on him growing up, he didn’t say Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. Instead, he named Martin Luther King, Jr., Tupac Shakur, and Haitian revolutionary figure Toussaint L’Ouverture.
Charles Barkley once became infamous for saying, “I am not a role model” in an old Nike ad. Brown is trying to show athletes that not only do they not have to be confined to such a narrow path with these big shoe companies, but they can branch out on their own and inspire others along the way. That’s what he’s trying to do with his 741 line of shoes and apparel.
Brown has the second-largest contract in NBA history, trailing only his teammate Jayson Tatum. But a little-known fact about him is that teams were initially hesitant to draft him because they deemed him “too smart.” He’s obviously developed into a great player, but he doesn’t want to be remembered for what he achieved on the 94 feet of the hardwood.
He’s an NBA champion and a Finals MVP, but these facts don’t define him. Even though he spent just one year at Cal, his intellectual curiosity and desire to make the world a better place is the most interesting and admirable thing about him.
Not every athlete wants to be a role model, but if they do, Jaylen Brown is the perfect blueprint for where to start.
