Getty Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
With all the rumors swirling around in the last week regarding whether Jaylen Brown will be on the Boston Celtics or not, it appears the 25-year-old wing is enjoying his time off. During his time off, it appears Brown is spending his time with a former teammate who recently became a movie star in 2022.
In one of his most recent Instagram posts, Brown posted a picture of him playing basketball with former Celtics forward Juancho Hernangomez. Brown mentioned Hernangomez’s movie character’s name in the movie Hustle while referencing Brown’s popular tweet from earlier in 2022, “The energy is about to shift.”
This is not the first time Brown has been seen with a former teammate during the summer. A few weeks back, Brown was spotted with former Celtic and current Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving alongside rapper Kanye West.
Kyrie and Jaylen Brown linked up with Ye 👁
It’s heartwarming to see that Brown still keeps in touch with his former teammates during his downtime. Even ones who had previously not spoken too nicely of the Celtics while they played there like Hernangomez did not too long ago.
Hernangomez Called Celtics Players ‘Selfish’
In an interview with NBA en Movistar Plus on May 26, 2022, Hernangomez had some nasty things to say about his teammates during his time with the Celtics.
During his time in Boston, Hernangomez said that he was not happy and there was no communication on the team. He called his former teammates “selfish” and said that they had “egos.” Hernangomez added that not only was he not happy in Boston, but his time there made him lose some of his love for basketball.
“Venía de Boston que a nivel de equipo eran jugadores un poco egoístas, había ego entre ellos. Después con 7 jugadores de cambio han sabido como jugar y juegan muy bien con 7/8. El problema era ese, que fuera de la pista no se hacía equipo”.
@juanchiviris41 en #GeneraciónNBA.
Juan Hernangomez on his stint in Boston:
“I wasn’t happy there, it was very hard. There was no communication, I didn’t know what was expected of me. There were many super selfish players, no team building. I lost my love for basketball a bit.”
(via @elpaisinenglish)
Hernangomez backtracked his comments a couple of days later on the Rich Eisen show. He said that he actually was happy in Boston and was happy to see them make their run to the 2022 NBA Finals.
“We had a rough start,” Hernangomez said. “We got a couple of close losses, a new coach, new everything. Everybody tried to (figure) out their roles. I was so happy there. I was so happy with the city, with the team, with the fans… They are three wins (away from) the title. I mean, they deserve it. They work so hard. We just had a bad beginning of the season. We didn’t find our game, but I’m happy they changed things, and they deserve to win the championship.”
Evidently, Brown did not take Hernangomez’s harsh words personally. However, now that Hernangomez has joined a division rival, the two may not hang out as much going forward.
Hernangomez Signs With Toronto
On July 26, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Hernangomez signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Raptors.
Free agent F Juancho Hernangomez is finalizing a one-year deal with the Toronto Raptors, sources tell ESPN.
Hernangomez struggled in his time with the Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs but found his footing after the Spurs traded him to the Utah Jazz. In the 17 games Hernangomez played for the Jazz, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three.
In spite of putting up better numbers in Utah, the Jazz waived him earlier this summer. Now that he’ll be playing for Toronto, one can’t help but wonder if he’s going to get booed when he returns to Boston, and if he does, will he be booed for his earlier comments or for joining a division rival?