Background and career
Jaylen Marselles Brown (born October 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the California Golden Bears and was named first-team all-conference and Freshman of the Year in the Pac-12 Conference. Declaring for the 2016 NBA draft after his freshman season, Brown was selected by the Boston Celtics with the third overall pick. As a professional, he has split his time between shooting guard and small forward. Brown is a five-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA Team member, and reached the Eastern Conference finals six times with Boston. He helped the Celtics reach the 2022 and 2024 NBA Finals, winning a championship and the Finals MVP award in the latter. Brown and Jayson Tatum made up the Celtics' "Jays" duo from 2017 to 2026. He was traded by the Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2026.
Brown attended Wheeler High School in his hometown of Marietta, Georgia. As a junior, Brown averaged 24.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.0 steals per game while leading the Wildcats to a 29–5 overall record. As a senior, Brown helped lead his team to victory in the Georgia High School Association Class 6A State Championship. With 0.6 seconds remaining, Brown hit two free throws to give Wheeler a 59–58 win. More highlights of Brown's senior season included 28 points and 11 rebounds in a 76–70 victory over Harry Giles and Wesleyan Christian Academy; a 24-point and eight rebound performance in a 61–40 victory over Malik Monk and Bentonville High School; 25 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists in a 75–65 victory over Ben Simmons and Montverde Academy; and 29 points and 15 rebounds against Huntington Prep. As a senior, Brown averaged 28 points and 12 rebounds while leading Wheeler to a 30–3 overall record. Brown won a 2014 FIBA Americas Championship gold medal as part of the USA Basketball Men's U18 National Team. He was also selected to play in the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. At the end of his high school career, Brown was named Gatorade Georgia Boys Player of the Year, USA Today's All-USA Georgia Player of the Year, Georgia's Mr. Basketball, and the Class 6A Player of the Year.
Brown was rated a five-star recruit and ranked by Scout, ESPN, and 247Sports as the fourth best recruit in the class of 2015 behind Ben Simmons, Skal Labissière, and Brandon Ingram. Rivals ranked Brown third in his class. On May 1, 2015, Brown committed to play for the Golden Bears at the University of California, Berkeley, under coach Cuonzo Martin and alongside fellow top recruit Ivan Rabb. Brown was heralded as an all-around prospect due to his athleticism.
Brown took a master's-level class in Berkeley's Cultural Studies of Sport in Education program during his first semester in college. Brown also began learning Spanish, stating a goal of learning three additional languages by the age of 25. While playing for the Golden Bears in 2015–16, Brown averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 27.6 minutes per game over 34 games. He had his best scoring games on November 27, 2015, against Richmond and January 27, 2016, against Utah, recording 27 points in each game. Brown had a season-high 11 rebounds twice during victories on November 23, 2015, against Sam Houston State and on January 1, 2016, against Colorado. On January 23, 2016, he recorded a season-high seven assists to go along with 15 points in a narrow 74–73 victory over Arizona. Brown earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors and was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
On June 23, 2016, Brown was selected by the Boston Celtics with the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. On July 27, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Celtics after averaging 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals in six Summer League games. Brown made his debut for the Celtics on October 26, 2016, in the season-opening 122–117 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, scoring nine points on 3-for-4 shooting while also adding two blocks in 19-plus minutes. In his first career start on November 3, Brown scored 19 points in a 128–122 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On January 27, 2017, he scored a then career-high 20 points in a 128–98 victory over the Orlando Magic. Brown helped the Celtics claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference before helping them advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Celtics lost to the Cavaliers in five games. Brown had a productive rookie season, with his role off the bench continuing to develop as the year went on. Brown averaged 17.2 minutes on the floor, 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 78 games and 20 starts. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team at the end of the season.
During the offseason, the Celtics drafted Jayson Tatum third overall in the 2017 NBA draft. The duo made their debut in the Celtics' season-opening 102–99 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 17, 2017, where Brown scored a then-career-high 25 points. On November 18, he had a then-career-high 27 points and helped the Celtics win their 15th straight game with a 110–99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. On December 13, Brown had a 26-point outing in a 124–118 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He missed two weeks in March 2018 with a concussion. On April 6, Brown set a then-career-high with 32 points in a 111–104 victory over the Chicago Bulls. On April 17, in Game 2 of the Celtics' first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks, he had a then playoff career-high 30 points in helping Boston take a 2–0 series lead with a 120–106 victory. At age 21, Brown became the youngest player in Celtics history to score 30 or more points in a playoff game. Five days later in Game 4, he set a new playoff career-high and scored a career-high 34 points in a narrow 104–102 loss. The Celtics went on to win the series in seven games, with Brown sitting out of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers with a strained hamstring. He returned to action on May 3 in Game 2, scoring 13 points off the bench in a 108–103 victory, helping the Celtics take a 2–0 series lead. Six days later in Game 5, Brown had 24 points during a narrow 114–112 series-clinching victory. On May 25, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, he scored 27 points in a 109–99 loss to the Cavaliers. The Celtics went on to lose the series in seven games.
