Friday, August 28, 2020

Jaylen Brown 'very vocal' during NBA's social justice player meetings


Jaylen Brown continues to demonstrate great leadership on and off the court, as he's using his platform in the fight for systemic change.

The young Celtics star has been very active since May, when he drove 15 hours to Atlanta from Boston to lead a peaceful protest against the death of George Floyd, and spoke out about the racial injustice surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor and this week's shooting of Jacob Blake.

While the Milwaukee Bucks made the decision to boycott their Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, it was the discussions between the Celtics and Raptors prior that sparked the NBA to postpone the remaining playoff games on Wednesday and Thursday.

Stephanie Ready of TNT joined the panel on NBC Sports Boston during their special "Bigger Than Basketball" Thursday night, to detail how the Celtics and Raptors essentially made the boycott come to fruition and why Brown has been looked at as of the leaders in the Orlando bubble.   
"It was the Celtics and the Raptors that had that initial first team meeting, joint team meeting, when they were discussing possibly sitting out the game that was scheduled for Thursday night," Ready said. "That was what got it out in the atmosphere, and they kind of led the way. In particular, Jaylen Brown has been very vocal in these player meetings. And I've talked to a few players who have said that he has been among the leaders. 
"The sentiment overall with these players is they want to get back to action. They want to play games, but they also want their messages heard. And I think that's where it gets confusing for them. They're torn because they want to play, but they don't want their play to become a distraction and detract from their messaging. So I think they're working hard to figure out how to accomplish both goals."


Brown emerging as one of the key leaders in the NBA's latest action plan against social injustice should not come as a surprise. The 23-year old has expressed himself on numerous occasions since arriving on the Disney campus when it comes to the nation's issues of social inequality and police brutality.

As the NBA has agreed to resume the postseason on Saturday, with the stipulation that more has to be done in the fight for systemic change, Brown and others have made it clear that they will not "shut and dribble" and instead face the important topics to keep them at forefront.


The Celtics - Raptors Game 1 of the second-round series, which was postponed, will tip-off on Sunday at 1 pm EST.



Joel Pavón




Photo used courtesy of Getty Images

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