Boston Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown is someone who stands strongly on his beliefs as a person. He’s a natural born leader that Brad Stevens has always said will make his greatest impact in life off the court and we’ve already seen him take action.

At NBA All-Star weekend in Indiana, Brown was asked who he wishes he could be teammates with, his answer was Bill Russell and his reason why is beautiful, saying he would have stood next to him and together they could’ve moved more mountains.

“I think I would have stood there right with him. At least he would have had somebody else on his team that felt as strongly as him, and maybe we could have moved more mountains together.”

In 1961, Russell was part of the first boycott after his teammates, Tom Sanders and Sam Jones, were refused service at the hotel restaurant in Kentucky ahead of a preseason game. The refusal to play was their way of trying to make their voices heard.

Russell was at the March on Washington in 1963, standing close to Dr. King when he delivered the “I have a dream” speech. Russell also traveled to Mississippi that same year to open an integrated basketball camp after civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated. It would eventually be run by Evers’ brother.

One of the more notable actions Russell made was in 1967 sitting next to Muhammad Ali in Cleveland with other prominent Black figures in the world to support Ali’s decision to go to prison instead of fighting in the Vietnam War.

Russell also provided many local efforts, including speaking to high school students and planned graduations for a Black high school in the city. He was always trying to make change so the people after him could hopefully have an easier go at it… life, that is.

In 2016, Brown created a foundation dedicated to bridging the gap between underprivileged communities and educational opportunities in Boston. As a result, he partnered with MIT on a fellowship deal that allows him to use their media lab and resources. It was designed for Brown to select a group of kids from underprivileged communities and give them MIT resources for educational success.

It has since transformed into something bigger. Brown now teaches the Bridge Program students about financial literacy and leadership on top of educational success. Brown also teaches a robotics class and was part of creating the curriculum for that, which is what he was doing when his record-breaking contract extension was finalized.

At 22-years-old, Brown was elected to be the NBPA’s vice president at 22-years-old, making him the youngest ever at the time, and four-years younger than any other board member. It showed just how highly the rest of the players in the NBA perceived Brown and knew that he would make the best decisions for the players in the league and fight for them when it’s needed.

In 2020, Brown drove from Boston to Atlanta, to lead a protest after the death of George Floyd. He drove 15-hours to be there on the streets with the people of his community, protesting about the social injustices and systemic racism they experience in their everyday lives.

This past summer, Brown did a redesign of the basketball court at the Fenelon Street playground and promised to do more around the city for his community. This past fall season, Brown dedicated a new basketball court at the Roxbury Boys and Girls club in honor of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi.

Brown’s 7uice Foundation is focused on educational opportunities for disadvantaged students in underprivileged communities, but it’s also centered around everything else that Brown stands for, including his beliefs in social justice activism, the impact he has on the youth, improving his community, and his hobby of fashion.

It’s fair to say that if Brown was alive at the time to be teammates with Russell that he would’ve been next to him on the frontlines of civil activism to make the world a better place.

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