Wiggy loves what Jaylen Brown is doing for the black community
When you sign the richest contract in NBA history, which Jaylen Brown did on Wednesday when he put pen to paper on a five-year, $304 million supermax extension with the Celtics, there are inevitably going to be massive expectations that go along with such a deal.
Brown knows that.
“I don’t shy away from pressure,” he said. “I know what the demand is, I know what the expectation level is, and I know the work that’s required. Everything about me is about work. So, I look at it as just another challenge to get better, another challenge to improve. I don’t think nobody has seen my best yet. God willing, I’ll be able to put my best foot forward and do what I do best.”
The demand and expectation on the court is to win Banner 18. Brown and Jayson Tatum, who is expected to sign an even bigger supermax contract next summer, have gotten close. They’ve led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in four of the last six seasons and reached the NBA Finals in 2022, ultimately losing to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
While there have been questions about whether Brown and Tatum can or will win it all together, including numerous trade rumors involving Brown over the years, Brown said that is the clear goal with his new contract now signed.
“It would mean the world,” Brown told NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg when asked about winning with Tatum. “Why? Because of all the work, all the heartbreak, the losses we’ve had together. You don’t want to win – you can if you have to – but you don’t want to win with new people. You want to win with the people that was with you from Day 1, when I was sitting at the table with you, when you were skinny, when you didn't have no food and were hungry. Those are the people you want to, when you finally make it in life, you want to celebrate with.”
But as high as the pressure will be to perform and win on the court, Brown is putting even more pressure on himself to make a difference off it.
Brown, who has been active in the Boston community for years, laid out his plans for helping to make the city and region a better place, including bringing Black Wall Street to Boston to address the city’s wealth inequality, which by some measures ranks among the worst in the country. Black Wall Street refers to a wealthy black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma that was destroyed in a racially-motivated domestic terror attack in 1921.
“I mean, it’s home,” Brown said of Boston in his interview with NBC Sports Boston. “I’ve been here longer than I’ve been anywhere in my entire life. I’ve been here eight years now and growing. I’m a part of the community. My family’s a part of the community. I’m part of the solutions. I just want to help. I just want to build. I just want to make the world a better place. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do here.”
Asked if that’s an even more daunting challenge than trying to win an NBA title, Brown didn’t hesitate.
“It’s probably more daunting to live up to it off the court,” he said. “I hold myself to the pedigree of being one of the athletes that uses his platform to invest in his community, to build things that last forever, that can help people long after I’m gone. So, the challenges around that are more daunting than on the court.”