SUMMARY
- Jaylen Brown was possibly one of the smartest athletes to ever step foot into NBA.
- Scouts were scared that he would be too smart for the league.
People haven’t said too many nice things about Jaylen Brown over the years. Some believe that he isn’t worth the hype while many also apparently thought he didn’t deserve an All-NBA selection. However, he managed to prove everybody wrong during the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals by being the Boston Celtics’ best offensive player.
But there is an intriguing story behind Brown’s rise to stardom and it also proves how important the sport of basketball can be for NBA athletes. The 27-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he’s been a big reason behind the Celtics’ recent success. However, before coming into the league, scouts believed that he was “too smart” for the NBA and it wasn’t because of his basketball IQ but due to his overwhelming success in academics.
Jaylen Brown was offered an internship at NASA just before making the NBA Finals
Committing to a college is possibly the most crucial phase of an athlete’s journey. While most athletes would choose a college that’s going to help them build a strong resumé in a particular sport and academics would typically be a secondary factor. For Jaylen Brown, he rejected offers from Kentucky and Kansas to commit to the University of California. Berkeley as it was a better option for academics.
NASA offered Jaylen an internship in 2021.
A year later he made his first Finals
Fast forward to 2023 and he was up for the largest contract in NBA history, but this wasn’t the only thing on his mind… pic.twitter.com/akCwdqQ2i3
— Frank Michael Smith (@frankmikesmith) May 31, 2024
He graduated at the top of his class while learning various languages such as Spanish and Arabic. Brown was on the Varsity Chess Team while he was younger. Over time, his success caught the attention of Harvard. He was also asked to give a lecture on Robotics at MIT, where he was made a Media Lab Fellow. The most impressive part is that NASA offered him an internship in 2021, only a year before he made the NBA Finals with the Celtics. What else makes him more interesting as a person? He knows how to play the guitar and piano.
Jaylen Brown played a pivotal role in the NBPA
In 2019, Jaylen Brown became the youngest player to be elected as a Vice President of the National Basketball Players Association. Turns out, Browns has been a pivotal figure on that team ever since he was brought in. During the NBA Bubble, when protests related to the murders of George Floyd and Rayshard Brook took place, the Milwaukee Bucks chose to go on a three-day hiatus and boycott a playoff game that was scheduled. While most individuals in the league were against the Bucks’ actions, Brown took a stand for them.
“I felt obligated to let Milwaukee know that I understood why they the decision they made and I didn’t need that explanation from them,” said Brown according to GQ. The NBA had a few social justice initiatives which included having “Black Lives Matter” printed on the court and various anti-racism slogans on the back of every jersey, they were in fact Brown’s ideas.