Jaylen Brown was left off Team USA, called a conspiracy theorist, and called out for not being marketable, all in the span of a few months. All the while, he won Eastern Conference finals MVP, Finals MVP, and helped lead the Boston Celtics to their first NBA Championship since 2008.
The All-Star wing is used to trade rumors surrounding his name, as up until this season, the chatter about splitting up him and Jayson Tatum was constant.
Brown is a very outspoken individual, which is a big contrast to Tatum, who is a relatively quiet guy. But because of how vocal Brown is, he has gotten pegged as a someone who isn’t always easy to play with.
But that couldn’t be further from the case.
Payton Pritchard defends Jaylen Brown from the perception of him being a bad teammate
During a recent appearance on the Point Forward podcast with Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard defended Brown after all that has gone on this summer. (H/t HoopsHype)
“I know certain people are like it’s undercutting his teammate, but I was kind of like hey man, let him speak his peace,” Pritchard said of Brown’s tweet after his Team USA snub. “I think, yeah, let him speak. I don’t think Derek felt any type of way at all. I think we’re all brothers at the end of the day. When I saw it, not even having the consideration of putting him on was confusing to me. I think Jaylen is a top-level player. He fits everything they need. He can defend, play any role, and I think Jaylen would accept that.”
Pritchard even took things a step further, showing love to Brown and putting an end to the rumblings that he’s not a good teammate.
“People sometimes have this version of him that he’s a difficult teammate or difficult dude, which is not the case at all,” Pritchard said. “I love Jaylen to death and I got so much respect for him and the type of person he is.”
Brown’s accomplishments on the court this summer have been outshined by his impact in the community. The Celtics star just recently launched the Boston XChange initiative, which is slated to generate roughly $5 billion in generational wealth for communities of color in Boston.
The Celtics were the best team in the NBA this year, and with that comes inevitable scrutiny and hate. People love to hate David and love to root for Goliath. But tearing down players for speaking their minds is not the way to go about that.
Throughout his career, Brown has been nothing but a supportive teammate, a competitive player on the court, and an increidble human away from it.
Whether or not Team USA should have put him on the roster is beside the point. He’s allowed to share his thoughts and speak his mind in spite of the public’s thoughts on the matter because his teammates love him regardless.
