Getty Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Jaylen Brown’s name has been in the media for multiple different reasons since the end of the season, but on Saturday, July 16, the Boston Celtics star went viral for non-basketball-related reasons.
In a recent Instagram post by Brown, he can be seen hanging out with Kayne West and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, as the two NBA stars put another season behind them and enjoy some downtime. Of course, not every Celtics fan was happy to see Brown fraternizing with Irving, but that’s part and parcel of being on opposing teams.
The pictures appear to have been taken in Los Angeles – where Brown attended college, and also feature prominent motivational speaker Justin Laboy, who has over five million followers on the social media platform. Brown, clearly enjoying the company, captioned the images as “Energy transfers ⚡️”.
Brown Recently Signed with Donda Sports
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to see Brown and West pictured together, after all, the Celtics star recently became the first athlete to sign with Donda Sports – West’s sports marketing agency.
Jaylen Brown is the first pro athlete to ever sign with Donda Sports, per @TMZ_Sports
“Marketing. But, it’s a little bit of everything, just trying to make an impact, make an influence. Take our platform, and rather than going through the ups and downs of dealing with people – the higher-ups. We get to come from a different angle…(Kayne’s) a pioneer, a legend, somebody who has broke barriers. Started off producing, transcended the game that way, and arguably had a better rap career. And now, he’s doing business, fashion, clothing lines, he’s just somebody who’s always been about breaking walls, and breaking down barriers, and for me, I look to do some of the same stuff,” Brown told Bally Sports Scoop B Robinson.
It’s also worth noting that Brown does own his own clothing line, 7UICE, which he recently opened a store for in Boston, so it will be interesting to see how the partnership with Donda progresses, and how 7UICE also fits into that vision.
Brown Reportedly Frustrated in Boston
Despite averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per night, while shooting 47.3% from the field and 35.8% from deep this past season, Brown has once again found his name being floated around in trade rumors, specifically in hypothetical deals for Kevin Durant.
This has led to the Georgia native liking a tweet that noted how Celtics fans are sometimes disrespectful to him, but more notably, it led to WEEI’s Jermaine Wiggins claiming that Brown had told him of his frustrations with his current situation in Boston.
ICYMI @jwiggs85 was outside over the weekend and happened to bump into #Celtics star Jaylen Brown.
Their conversation was VERY interesting.
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Wiggy details ⬇️
“Let’s just say, we were in the same spot…I’m no snitch. All I’m saying is Jaylen Brown wants his own identity, and he ain’t getting that here. If he goes to Brooklyn, he becomes the guy. That team is now built around him. Kyrie’s not going to be there. It looks like Kyrie’s going to head to the Lakers…You have Brown. You have Marcus Smart in Brooklyn. They re-sign (Nic) Claxton. They brought back Patty Mills.
Now, Brooklyn has a team that they can build around — a young star in Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown gets out of the shadow of Jayson Tatum, and he can now run his own team. Perfect for everybody. You get KD, who can share the spotlight. We’ve seen him do it before,” Wiggins explained during a July 7 recording for WEEI.
Of course, this feels more like speculation than a report, especially when considering Brown was an integral piece to the Celtics’ NBA Finals run. But, with another two years remaining on his current contract, this doesn’t feel like an impending issue the Celtics have to deal with – especially if they can make a deep playoff run again next season, as they continue to chase banner 18.