Cal Basketball: Jaylen Brown Non-Committal About His Future With the Celtics

Brown touches on a wide range of topics in an interview with The Ringer.

Jaylen Brown, who continues to be one of the more fascinating young personalities in the NBA, touches on a wide range of topics in a story that appears on the website of The Ringer.

But the 26-year-old ex-Cal star stopped short of saying whether he might sign a contract extension with the Boston Celtics or wait a year to enter free agency. There may be no financial advantage in doing so, considering experts believe the salary cap will increase.

“I don’t know. As long as I’m needed. It’s not up to me,” Brown told Logan Murdock, who wrote the story. “We’ll see how they feel about me over time and I feel about them over time. Hopefully, whatever it is, it makes sense. But I will stay where I’m wanted. I will stay where I’m needed and treated correct.”

In his seventh NBA season, Brown is averaging 26.7 points and 6.9 rebounds — both career highs — for a Celtics team hoping to return to the NBA Finals and improve upon their runner-up finish of a year ago.

Here’s a link to the full story in The Ringer, but we have extracted some of what we found most interesting:

On his goals: “Obviously, our goal is to win the championship. That’s, I think, what everybody is focused on. Me, I feel like I still have so many more limits to tap individually. To be better, to be a better leader, to be a better player, et cetera. As for now, I’m just playing my role on the team to help us get back to do what we got to do. So, nothing wrong with being a part of a team and doing your job. That’s how I look at it.”

Jaylen Brown / Photo by Soobum Im, USA Today

On early career inconsistency: “I wanted to win; I wanted to also prove that I was the third pick of the draft. At the time, when you’re young, you see all your counterparts out there doing all types of stuff. Ben Simmons in Philly, Brandon Ingram in L.A., they are in the same draft, and so you want to keep showing people that you are not a bust. You are of equal talent. So during that time, that’s all it was for me, just trying to make sure people knew that Jaylen could play.”

On finding his role with the Celtics early in his career: “The pain came from being ready to do more. And not being allowed to. From a basketball standpoint, I always felt like … throw me out there no matter if I’m in Boston or in Japan (playing for Team USA). I’m going to figure it out. I’m more athletic, I’ve got more skill than the majority of people in this league. And I’m a wing, which is of extreme value. I got long arms. I’m athletic. I can get to where I’m going. I can see the game. I got a feel for it. I had to learn more about how to play the game. And that came with experience.”

On how he’s wired: “I prefer to be alone at times. I’m not saying that because it sounds cool or it’s the healthiest thing. I think it’s how I’m designed. I’m OK with being alone. I like space. Quarantine was fine for me. There was nothing wrong with quarantine. So, that’s just how I am. I go through times where you like human interaction. But a lot of the time, I’m fine with all of you humans leaving me alone.”

His relationship with star teammate Jayson Tatum: “Basketball. That’s where we find common ground: on the court. Basketball is the greatest teacher and the greatest equalizer as well. A lot of people, fans, are fascinated with our relationship and how that has developed and grown over time. He’s got fans within the Celtics fan base. I got fans within the Celtics fan base. And I think our fans have more of a hard time coexisting than me and him do. We never had an argument. I don’t think we’ve ever had a real argument, fight. Nothing crazy like that.”

On his relationship with the Celtics: “It’s hard coming into teams and organizations and being warm. They operate on different principles, I think. This is an organization. They look at it as a business, where they’ll tell you one thing, and then behind closed doors, they’ll say another, and they’ll trade you off.Tell you, ‘We love you,’ and they’ll be having like, ‘We’re going to trade him next week.’ I think that’s just how business is run.

“Like, where I’m from in the South, if you don’t come through the front door, it’s considered disrespectful. I feel like a lot of times, when you deal in these corporate spaces, everybody wants to come through the back door or come through an angle.”

On how long he wants to play with Tatum: “I just enjoy the time that you have now. If it’s your whole career, it’s your whole career. If it’s not, it’s not. Some of the greatest players of all time haven’t finished with their organization. Michael Jordan retired a Wizard. As much as we like it here and enjoy being here, you see where life takes you. You see how the process goes. All you do is really focus on what’s in front of you right now, to be honest. But I don’t really know or want to answer that question because that type of stuff makes Celtics fans speculate and go crazy. Especially right now, I’ll just say we’ll get there when we get there.”

On his growth: “I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve experienced a lot. I’ve been able to travel the world, study different cultures, meet different people, which has made me, I feel like, a more experienced human being. I still kind of feel like that same kid on the inside. But for now, I’m definitely moving along in the journey. (Heck), I’m the leader of this team. I’m one of the faces of this franchise, trying to be a global representation or an ambassador for our league and trying to bring people together.”

Cover photo of Jaylen Brown by Nick Wosika, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo