Jaylen Brown Basks In Praise From LeBron James, Both Today, and 2016

The most important thing in sports on November 3, 2016 was the Chicago Cubs celebrating the end of the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Except for Jaylen Brown. He was four games into his NBA career and about to make his first NBA start, thanks to a couple of injuries. He, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Tyler Zeller, and Amir Johnson took the floor against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Brown scored 19 that night as the Celtics nearly stormed back for a win. James pulled Brown aside afterwards.

"I'm not going to tell you what I told him,” LeBron said at the time. “If he wants to bring it up, that's fine … But I think he's a really good talent and that's why he was drafted so high. He's a strong kid. You can see he knows how to play the game."

At the time Brown didn’t want to share much about that conversation. Ten years later, after scoring 32 and beating James pretty soundly, Brown can let us in on what was said.

“He came up to me and he told me in my ear, like, you're gonna be an all-star one day, you're gonna be a great player,” Brown said after the win in Los Angeles. “He also said you’re playing for a great coach. Just keep your head up.”

That part was tough for Brown, whose minutes were pretty inconsistent back then. The 35-plus minutes he got against James that night were the most he played that season, and one of only four games where he played 30 or more. There were 15 games where he played less than 10.

Times have changed.

“JB, is doing, sh--, he's playing great basketball,” James said after watching Brown dismantle his Lakers. “This whole MVP thing, I don't understand why his name is not getting talked about some as well. No one gave them a shot to start the season, and he’s averaging, what? Thirty?”

Well, 29.2 at this point, but who’s counting?

“We talked about that at the All-Star game,” Brown said. “‘You remember that 10 years ago?’ And he smiles, like, ‘of course, I'm not surprised at anything you're doing right now. So just keep proving people wrong. Keep doing what you got to do, and keep leading your team and people take notice.”

People like Nikola Jokic, whose Nuggets are on the schedule in a couple of days. LeBron James isn’t the only former MVP who was singing Brown’s praises at the All-Star game.

“He's playing at a high level, scoring the ball. He's such a good defensive player, too,” Jokic said. “I think the versatility of him, that he can play on both sides of the court and still score, and still be dominant, and still be top three in the East. He's a really good player.”

Brown will turn 30 as next season starts, which usually means the beginning of the end of a professional sports career. The first third is from age 20-25 when players are trying to prove themselves and earn massive contracts. The middle third is from 25-30, the prime years when players are at their absolute physical peaks. Turning 30 is when players maybe start to feel the first signs of their sports mortality. That three to start their age does some heavy duty work on a psyche.

But Brown might buck that trend some, because he’s on a constant quest for self-improvement. He’s never been one to give in to norms, and he’s always been able to push his body to its limits. This season is as much about Brown figuring out how to push himself to new heights as it is proving people wrong about a “gap year.”

“I think he's the kind of guy that just, he relishes in getting 1% better, whatever that looks like,” Joe Mazzulla said. “And he just cares about winning. At the end of the day, he wants to win. So he does a good job assessing. He's smart. He knows the game, knows the league, knows what wins, knows what doesn't win.”

What’s winning right now is the Boston Celtics. They're reaching heights even the most optimistic optimists would have had trouble fathoming over the summer. Brown is one of the engines on that rocket ship. For a guy always looking for something to rail against to find motivation, this win over the Lakers let him bask in a little more praise than usual.

“I'm grateful,” he said. “It's an honor to play in Celtics-Lakers rivalries. It’s an honor for LeBron, who's arguably the best player to ever play the game, giving me some high praise. So I'm just grateful. I wake up every morning, grateful, humbled in the position I'm able to be in, and I come out and put my best foot forward every single day.”