Jaylen Brown is calling out agents and others around NBA stars whom he believes discourage players from investing in the communities they came from.
During a recent Twitch livestream, Brown claimed some of the league's most influential players are being pushed away from community involvement because there's little financial incentive for the people representing them.
"The people that are representing, or the people that are around some of our most influential players are steering them away," Brown said. "They're steering them away from being in their community, they're steering them away from helping the people in the situation they came from. Because there's no benefit for these people that are representing them."
Brown argued that money ultimately drives many of those decisions.
"They do not care about your community, they care about dollars," he said. "Everybody only cares about dollars. I feel like that's the problem with the world, chat."
Brown also addressed criticism he's received for speaking about issues beyond basketball, including Colin Cowherd citing NBA sources who claimed Brown had developed a "disease" of believing he's the smartest person in every room.
"They label me like, they said I had a disease," Brown said. "They call me the smartest person in the room and all this type stuff for just trying to uplift my community. Like what are we talking about?"
Brown said community involvement has been a priority since he was 18. After signing his five-year, $304 million supermax extension with Boston in 2023, he announced plans to create a "Black Wall Street" and help close the city's racial wealth gap.
"Maybe I'm not the right person to say it, because I've been blessed," Brown acknowledged. "But I just want people to know that there's more to this world than finances, money, material things."
Brown's comments caught the attention of Kyle Kuzma, who agreed with his frustration but challenged parts of his argument.
"I hear JB frustration but this ain't it," Kuzma wrote on X.
Kuzma argued that players need to take responsibility for the people they empower, saying, "most handlers around players don't know the first thing about building a business. and that's on US."
He also cautioned against putting the responsibility of rebuilding communities entirely on athletes, arguing they should first "make great investments" and "stack real capital" before attempting larger projects with cities, states, and other partners.
Brown, meanwhile, encouraged other athletes to remain committed despite outside pressure.
"It takes a real strong mind and some real courage to even go against it," he said. "I want other athletes to feel that, I want other athletes to see that."
