Jaylen Brown isn’t looking back.
A little more than a month after being traded from the Boston Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers, Brown finally faced the Philadelphia media on Thursday afternoon and made it clear he’s focused on what comes next, not on reliving the breakup. The first public version of his reaction had already spilled out on Twitch, where he said, “When I first got traded, I threw my phone across the room.”
Brown also said that something “went left” during the exit saga, though he didn’t get into specifics. He said communication with the front office had been open before that point, but he wasn’t interested in revisiting the details.
“The whole process,” he responded. “But to be honest, I don’t even - my mind is so focused on what’s in front of me. To be honest, I’m moving on.”
And what’s in front of him is a Philadelphia roster that, on paper, looks loaded. Brown joins Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, V.J. Edgecombe, and LeBron James in a starting five that gives the 76ers a star-packed core.
If Brown had no interest in diving into the Celtics side of the story, that was by design. He never spoke about the organization itself during the availability, steering the conversation toward Boston the city instead.
“I look back at the city of Boston and I'm grateful,” he shared..” I've been able to develop as a man, as a human being there, spend a lot of time in the community, a lot of time at universities studying and learning, figuring out how to approach how I wanted to go about my philanthropy, figure out how I wanted to approach, how to carry myself.”
Brown’s impact in Boston went well beyond basketball. He became a familiar presence around the city, showing up for students, handing out Christmas gifts to families, and pushing programs aimed at bringing equity to underserved communities. That work helped build a real connection between Brown and plenty of people there.
Now the 29-year-old says he’s ready to take that same mindset to a new place.
“I’m looking forward to continuing my foundation work as well as expanding it to Philadelphia. But I'm very grateful for my experience, my tenure in Boston. 10 years is a perfect cycle, perfect number for completion.
We won a championship and I have nothing but respect for the city of Boston. But now it's time to move forward a little bit"
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