Cal Basketball: Jaylen Brown's 22 Points at the All-Star Game the Most by a Golden Bear

Rising star Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics put his name atop the list of the most prolific NBA All-Star Game performances by a former Cal player.

To be fair, it wasn't much of a list.

Brown scored 22 points, including five 3-point baskets, on Sunday, helping Team LeBron to a 170-150 win over Team Durant in his hometown of Atlanta.

In his all-star debut, Brown scored more points than any Cal player ever has in the event.

The previous high was 14 points by Jason Kidd in the 2004 game.

Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, who coached Team LeBron, told the Boston Herald he saw special things in Brown’s future the first time he ever met him.

“I saw Jaylen in the (2020 NBA playoff) bubble and I reminded him that the first contact I had with him was a draft interview in Chicago before his rookie year right before the draft, and he was so impressive on so many levels,” Snyder said.

“Not just intelligent, but very thoughtful and composed. We weren’t picking high enough to be able to draft him, but I can remember coming out of that meeting and thinking as a young player he was extremely talented, but also got the sense that this is a man who is going to grow and evolve, and he understands who he is and where he wants to go. I think that’s what’s happened with his game.”

Brown, still just 24, played 26 minutes off the bench and shot 8 for 12 from the field, including 5 for 7 from 3-point range. He also had five rebounds and two steals.

Before the main event, Brown participated in the 3-point shooting contest, won for the second time by Stephen Curry pf the Warriors.

Brown, in his fifth NBA season, is 17th in the league in scoring, averaging a career-best 24.7 points. He has twice scored 42 points in a game this season, also a career-high.

The all-star game is barely even an exhibition these days, with players not even pretending to play defense. As a result, offensive numbers are inflated to ridiculous levels.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo won MVP honors by scoring 35 points on perfect 16-for-16 shooting, which included three 3-point baskets. Curry made eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points.

Cal does not have a significant all-star game history. Kidd played in the event nine times but he was never a big scorer, averaging 6.4 points, 7.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals in his all-star game career. He did have three double-doubles, including 11 points and 14 rebounds in the 2004 game.

Cal’s only other players with multiple all-star appearances are Kevin Johnson and Phil Chenier. K.J. averaged 4.3 points and 4.3 assists in three games, including a high of six points in 1994. Chenier also played in three all-star games, averaging 7.1 points with a high of of nine in 1975.

Darrall Imhoff (scoreless in 1967) and Shareef Abdur-Rahim (nine points in 2002) are the only other former Cal players to participate in the NBA all-star game.

Cover photo of Jaylen Brown by Dale Zanine, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo