Jaylen Brown didn’t enter the NBA as a multimillionaire. But becoming wealthy didn’t immediately change the way he lived. In fact, Brown says he essentially maintained the lifestyle of a college student during his first three seasons in the league.
Speaking on the Boardroom podcast, Brown reflected on what it was like to suddenly have significant money at a young age. That transition wasn’t as immediate as people might imagine.
“It is interesting because, at an early age, when you come into large amounts of wealth, you don’t really know what to even do with it. So the first three years of my career, I still lived like I was in college. I ate like—I didn’t have a chef. I ate the same type of foods. I Ubered. I didn’t have a car.
“But when you go out and buy some nice car, I kind of just operated like I was still in college for the first three. My idea of money didn’t really settle in yet. And over time, you kind of either realize some things, or you also lose touch of some things as well. So it can go both ways.”
It is particularly interesting considering Brown was making millions when he entered the league. After being selected No. 3 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brown signed a four-year, $21.4 million rookie contract.
He made $4.7 million during his first season, followed by $4.9 million in his second season, $5.1 million in his third, and $6.1 million in his fourth season.
But still, Brown said that understanding his newfound financial position took time.
Eventually, Brown’s financial situation grew considerably. In 2019, he agreed to a four-year, $106 million extension. He followed that up by signing a five-year, $285 million extension in 2023, placing him among the highest-paid players in the NBA.
Once his current contract is fully paid out, his career earnings will stand at over $420 million.
But Brown’s relationship with money appears to have evolved alongside these earnings. During the same podcast appearance, Brown discussed the darker side of becoming wealthy and famous, explaining how relationships can change when enormous amounts of money become involved.
He memorably described how conversations can become invoices and how success can create isolation.
And that experience explains why Brown has a clear answer when considering how much money would actually be enough for him.
” I mean, I think for me, I think enough. I think God has already provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. If I never make another dollar in this lifetime again, I’m extremely grateful for everything that I have.”
“So for me, my approach is everything that I gain from this moment on or in the future will be with the intent to invest back into my community or invest back into the next generation.
So I have everything that I could have imagined, and I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Instead of focusing exclusively on accumulating more wealth, Brown has said that his focus for future financial gains will be directed toward helping others.
And it is quite a transformation from his first years in the NBA. Brown went from making millions while still eating like a college student, taking Ubers everywhere, and not owning a car to securing generational wealth.
Yet his comments suggest the biggest adjustment wasn’t learning how to spend money. It was understanding what having this much money actually meant.
