NBA star Jaylen Brown and Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali recently interviewed each other as part of a “Game Recognize Game” series produced by The Hollywood Reporter and Sportico.
During the interview, the two men discussed a variety of topics surrounding their career ascents, including how Brown hopes to influence the future generation of Black athletes.
Brown, who rarely shies away from sharing his thoughts or addressing his critics, believes that many athletes today are not more outspoken due to trauma surrounding slavery in the United States.
“I would say this, it might be a little controversial, but I think it’s rooted in fear, even within our own community,” Brown told Ali. “There’s pushback, or almost like a hesitancy, rooted in the trauma of slavery.”
“At one point, to do anything outside of being a slave was problematic. Reading, writing, anything. It’s similar when you think of an athlete doing anything out of what you’re just supposed to be doing.”
Brown is currently undergoing a major transition in his NBA career. The 2024 Finals MVP is preparing for his first season with the Philadelphia 76ers following a July trade from the Boston Celtics.
The 76ers also signed free agent LeBron James, which elevated Philadelphia into one of the favorites to capture the NBA title during the upcoming 2026-27 campaign.
Even with the expectations and pressure of a new sports-crazed city, though, it would be a surprise to see Brown completely ignore his interests outside of basketball.
“You’re supposed to just be entertaining me. Right?” Brown said about how the general public views athletes. “You’re not supposed to be doing anything else outside of that. And some people firmly still believe that. But I disagree.
“My responsibility is not to entertain you. My responsibility is to be influential,” Brown said. “I think that fear is projected onto us in order to make us smaller, to make us more digestible, for the people who only … want you to be the slave. They only want you to be the entertainer.”
Brown’s exit from Boston after 10 seasons was messy. After he was traded, Fox Sports commentator Colin Cowherd, citing two NBA sources, said Brown had a “disease” of feeling like he was the smartest person in the room and had alienated people around the Celtics.
Brown later spoke out strongly against that characterization, and it appears he will not be deterred from continuing to speak his mind going forward.
“When it’s all said and done, I want to break down that fear,” Brown told Ali. “That fear that I’m speaking to that is still instilled within our community. It’s in our parents, in our grandparents — because of the trauma and experiences that they’ve had.
“I want to break that fear down for the next generation. My legacy will be, hopefully, inspiring the next generation to be fearless.”
