SI

Jaylen Brown Gushes Over Meeting His Childhood Hero, Bill Nye the Science Guy

Earlier this month, Brown posted about his wish to meet Nye. He did so just 20 days later.

Mike Kadlick

Brown and Nye met after the Celtics' game against the Wizards on Friday night.
Brown and Nye met after the Celtics' game against the Wizards on Friday night. / Bill Nye / IG
In this story:

Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown took to X (formerly Twitter) on Nov. 2 to ask a simple question: How can he meet Bill Nye the Science Guy?

Apparently, all he needed to do was play the Wizards in Washington just 20 days later—as Nye was in attendance at Capital One Arena for the Celtics' 108-96 win.

William Nye, a former mechanical engineer and longtime science communicator, is well known for his work on the television show Bill Nye the Science Guy, which ran from 1993 to '99. His science educational program is well known in pop culture as a way to make learning fun for children in school.

Nye and Brown were seen meeting up in the tunnel following Friday night's contest:

"I can't remember what made me even tweet that," Brown said of the meet-up after the game. "I think I was just up thinking about just, the educational experience and it just crossed my mind. I was like, 'Man I gotta meet this guy.' His contributions to STEM and STEAM have been amazing and like, he made learning like fun growing up. I used to be excited when the teacher used to say we're watching Bill Nye today."

Believe it or not, Brown (now a three-time All-Star and an NBA champion) was once dubbed "too smart" to play basketball. Ahead of the 2016 NBA draft, scouts cited his intellect and outside passions as ways that could potentially impact his performance on the court.

Not only was the 28-year-old offered an internship with NASA, but he's also an MIT fellow, was the youngest person to ever hold a lecture at Harvard, has developed a program to introduce STEM to Boston-area kids, and was apparently in the middle of a robotics class back in 2023 when he learned that his agent has secured him the largest contract in NBA history.

"To be able to shake [Nye's] hand for helping me on my educational journey, it was pretty cool," he said.

Brown was Boston's leading scorer on Friday night with 31 points on 11-of-27 shooting.

More of the Latest Around the NBA

feed

Published
Mike Kadlick
MIKE KADLICK

Mike Kadlick is a breaking/trending news writer at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered the New England Patriots for WEEI sports radio in Boston and continues to do so for CLNS Media. He graduated from Boston University with his Master's in 2021. Mike is also an avid runner and a proud lover of all things pizza.

Home/NBA