Boston Celtics superstar and NBA champion Jaylen Brown is widely considered one of the best two players in the game today. However, during his senior year of high school, his future as a basketball player was at risk.
On a recent episode of “Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady,” Jaylen Brown opened up about an incident with local law enforcement that almost resulted in him losing an opportunity to play college basketball.
“My top 3 before I made my decision was Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, and Michigan. But in my senior year, I got arrested for a traffic violation on my way to school,” Brown recalled.
“Now, I could have graduated from high school in my junior year because I was advanced in science and math. So I stayed an extra year, my senior year, and won the state championship. We had an assembly, I was supposed to win Mr. Georgia – Basketball, Positive Athlete of the Year, and all this different type of stuff that they were going to award me, right? But on the way to that assembly, I get arrested, and that kind of shifted everything for me.”
Jaylen Brown added that the news of his arrest was featured on USA Today, claiming that the term “traffic violation” may have been excessive since he only ran a stop sign. Still, the damage had been done. With college coaches avoiding him, Brown realized that matters had escalated.
“From that moment on, I told myself that I’m going to make sure that if I’m making decisions on my journey, I’m going to be in the driver’s seat, and I’m going to do it on my terms. I’ll just live with those results.”
Although Jaylen Brown continues to face issues with law enforcement, the Celtics’ superstar noted that this incident changed his outlook and the trajectory of his career.
After graduating from high school, Brown joined the University of California, Berkeley. In his freshman season (2015-16), Jaylen Brown appeared in 34 games, averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 0.8 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field.
With Brown on the floor, the Golden Bears logged a 23-11 record (12-6 in Pac-12). Although they were the No. 4 seed heading into the NCAA Tournament, they suffered a 77-66 defeat at the hands of the No. 13 seed, Hawaii, ending their run in the round of 64.
While underwhelming for the team, Brown was selected to the All-Pac-12 first team and was even named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
Since his minor mishap in high school, Jaylen Brown’s career has been nothing short of inspiring. Although he faced challenges early in his career, the former first-round pick grew in stature, eventually reaching superstar status.
Now, Brown is widely considered the face of the Celtics franchise. Having led the team to a No. 2 spot even in the prolonged absence of Jayson Tatum this season, Brown has shown tremendous leadership and tenacity.
With Boston posting a 43-23 record despite its recent losses, and Brown’s averages of 28.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game this year, it wouldn’t be outrageous to consider him a favorite for MVP.
