Jaylen Marselles Brown (born October 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the California Golden Bears, being named first-team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Declaring for the 2016 NBA draft after that season, he was selected by the Celtics with the third overall pick. As a professional, he has split his time between shooting guard and small forward.

Brown attended Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia.^[1] As a senior, he helped lead his team to victory in the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class 6A State Championship. With 0.6 seconds remaining, Brown hit two free throws to give Wheeler a 59–58 win.^[2] As a senior, Brown averaged 28 points and 12 rebounds while leading Wheeler to a 30–3 overall record.^[3]

Brown was rated a five-star recruit and ranked by Scout.com, ESPN, and 247Sports.com as the fourth best recruit in his class behind Ben Simmons, Skal Labissière, and Brandon Ingram.^[4] Rivals.com ranked him third in his class.^[5]

Brown won a 2014 FIBA Americas Championship gold medal as part of the USA Basketball Men's U18 National Team.^[6] He was also selected to play in the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game.^[7] At the conclusion of an outstanding high school career, Brown was named Gatorade Georgia Boys Player of the Year, USA Today's All-USA Georgia Player of the Year, Georgia's Mr. Basketball, and the Class 6A Player of the Year.^[3]

On May 1, 2015, Brown committed to play for the Golden Bears at the University of California, Berkeley, under coach Cuonzo Martin and alongside fellow top-recruit Ivan Rabb.^[8] He was heralded as an all-around prospect due to his athleticism.^[9] Brown took a masters-level class in Berkeley's Cultural Studies of Sport in Education program during his first semester in college.^[10] He also gained some fluency in Spanish, stating a goal of learning three more languages by the age of 25.^[11][12]

While playing for California, Brown averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 27.6 minutes per game over 34 games.

He had his best scoring games on November 27, 2015, against Richmond and January 27, 2016, against Utah, recording 27 points in each game. He had a season-high 11 rebounds twice during victories on November 23, 2015, against Sam Houston State and on January 1, 2016, against Colorado. On January 23, 2016, Brown recorded a season-high 7 assists to go with 15 points in a 74–73 victory over Arizona. Brown earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors and was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.^[13]

On June 23, 2016, Brown was selected by the Boston Celtics with the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft.^[14] On July 27, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Celtics after averaging 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals in six Summer League games.^[15] He made his debut for the Celtics in their season opener on October 26 against the Brooklyn Nets, scoring nine points on 3-for-4 shooting, while adding two blocked shots in 19-plus minutes.^[16] In his first career start on November 3, Brown scored 19 points in a 128–122 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[17] On January 27, 2017, he scored a career-high 20 points in a 128–98 win over the Orlando Magic.^[18] Brown helped the Celtics claim the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, before helping them advance through to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were defeated by the Cavaliers in five games. Brown had a productive rookie season in 2016–17, with his role off the bench continuing to develop as the year went on. He appeared in 78 games for the Celtics during the regular season, with 20 starts. He averaged 17.2 minutes on the floor, 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists.^[19] At the season's end, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.^[20]

In the Celtics' 2017–18 season opener against the Cavaliers on October 17, 2017, Brown scored a career-high 25 points in a 102–99 loss.^[21] On November 18, he set a new career high with 27 points and helped the Celtics win their 15th straight game with a 110–99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.^[22] On December 13 he had a 26-point effort against the Denver Nuggets.^[23] Brown missed two weeks in March 2018 with a concussion.^[24] On April 6, 2018, he set a new career high with 32 points in a 111–104 win over the Chicago Bulls.^[25] In Game 2 of the Celtics' first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brown had a playoff career-high 30 points in helping Boston take a 2–0 series lead with a 120–106 win. At age 21, Brown became the youngest player in Celtics history to score 30 or more points in a playoff game.^[26] In Game 4, Brown scored 34 points in a 104–102 loss.^[27] The Celtics went on to win the series in seven games, with Brown sitting out the second-round series opener with a strained right hamstring. He returned to action in Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 13 points off the bench in a 108–103 win, helping the Celtics take a 2–0 series lead.^[28] In Game 5, Brown scored 24 points in a 114–112 series-clinching win.^[29] In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brown scored 27 points in a 109–99 loss to the Cavaliers.^[30]

Brown struggled to start the season, with the Boston Globe criticizing him for taking too many two-point jump shots and an overall "lack of focus and discipline".^[31] After the Celtics unexpectedly started the season with 10 wins and 10 losses, ESPN's Jackie MacMullan wrote that "nobody disappointed [the Celtics] more than Brown."^[32] On December 6, Brown returned after missing three games with a bruised lower back and scored a then season-high 21 points in a 128–100 win over the New York Knicks.^[33] Two days later, he scored a game-high 23 points in a 133–77 win over the Chicago Bulls.^[34] On December 31, he had a season-high 30 points in a 120–111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.^[35]

Brown is primarily a vegetarian and has diverse interests including learning Spanish, studying history, meditation, and philosophy.

He is also a big soccer fan.

Many have described him as an unusual athlete, with many ambitions beyond basketball.^[36] Brown, who is African-American, assembled a primarily African-American advisory team prior to the NBA draft, but did not hire an agent.^[11] He was criticized by some as "too smart" to play in the NBA.^[11] This criticism was taken by some as racial bias against African-Americans.^[37][38]

Brown's father is Quenton M. Brown, a professional boxer, who is the 2016 WBU World Champion, the 2015 WBU C.A.M.

Heavyweight Champion, and a member of the Hawaii State Boxing Commission Board.^[39]

Brown has been critical of President Donald Trump, saying that Trump's character and some of his values make him unfit to be head of state for the United States.^[40]

Brown has a YouTube channel, where he has posted several documentary-style video series depicting his life during the season and off-season workouts.

The first episode, FCHWPO: Pawn to E4, was posted on January 31, 2017.^[41] The video title refers to Brown's love of chess. FCHWPO, which is also Brown's Twitter and Instagram handle, stands for Faith, Consistency, Hard Work Pays Off.^[42]

Brown is the cousin of Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye, a free agent signing in the NFL.^[43]