Is this the clarification Jaylen Brown hinted at a couple weeks ago?
After a pair of interviews with The New York Times and The Ringer were published just days apart last month, many Celtics fans and media were left wondering just how much Brown really wanted to remain in Boston long-term.
Most notably, many latched onto his comments about some Celtics fans being "extremely toxic" and his vague answer when asked about his future in Boston, saying just that he would stay "as long as I'm needed" and "will stay where I'm wanted."
Amid all the talk and speculation that emerged in the wake of those two interviews, Brown said he was "thinking about clarifying things," but opted not to do so just yet.
Now comes another sitdown interview for Brown, this one with Stadium's Shams Charania. While they don't address some of the most inflammatory comments from the New York Times and Ringer stories, the overall tone is much more positive, with Brown raving about teammates Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart in particular.
Brown says he and Tatum have grown together and learned from each other, and that the next step for them as a duo is to win a championship, something they were two wins away from last year.
"I think we both love this game tremendously, and want to continue to improve," Brown said. "We compete, we push each other, we learn from each other, and I think a lot of our relationship has been built off of that dynamic of respect. That's the beautiful part of it. JT, I get to see him come into work every single day, see him prepare for winning. He gets to see me come in every single day, prepare, what I'm working on, getting better each year in the offseason. I've seen him get better each year in the offseason. I've seen him grow as a man. He sees me growing as a man.
"I get why, I guess in a sense, people always try to break up duos or people like that, because so far we've been incredibly successful. Hopefully we can be even more. The only thing that would put the ribbon on top is getting a championship."
Brown also refuted the idea that there's tension between him and Tatum, or that he feels like Tatum's presence limits what he can be, saying that the two are "a part of each other."
"It's a phrase that I've said: 'Want for your brother what you want for yourself.' That's the only way I understand how to operate, is to want for the people around me what I want for myself," Brown said. "Jayson being the ultimate version of him doesn't stop me from being the ultimate version of myself. Him scoring 50 points and being the All-Star MVP, all of that is celebrated. Him getting the gold medal, you can see pictures of me celebrating his gold medal with him. That brings genuine joy for me. I appreciate him sharing the moments, because we're a part of each other at this point. We're kind of part of each other's destiny, in a sense."
Brown also called his relationship with Marcus Smart "brother-like" and said that even though the two have butted heads in the past, Smart is the type of person "you want to keep around in your life."
Charania didn't ask Brown about Boston fans or potentially re-signing with the Celtics long-term. He did ask him how he handled trade rumors, to which Brown responded, "I just worked."
So, this interview might not clarify everything that's been discussed for the last several weeks. But at the very least, it does provide some positivity as it relates to Brown with the playoffs right around the corner.
