Jaylen Brown talks knee surgery, Celtics offseason, 741 Performance — and his love for the Boston community

BOSTON — The rain came down in sheets. And, every couple of minutes, just when it seemed it had finally let up, another surge of torrential downpour would begin.

But the dozens and dozens of Celtics fans in attendance who lined Canal Street on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in Boston were unfazed, sporting a poncho or carrying an umbrella, and patiently waiting for the opportunity to meet Jaylen Brown.

Brown, who was rumored to be arriving to his 741 Performance pop-up to unveil his White Noise sneakers to the public for the very first time, hadn’t been out and about once since the Celtics’ stunning playoff elimination.

But, his newly-launched performance company was finally selling the sneakers he wore for most of the Celtics season. And, for fans still grieving the year’s unexpected outcome, the chance to see Brown just steps away from TD Garden seemed potentially therapeutic.

“I thought about skipping the event because of this rain,” said one diehard Celtics fan covered in 741 performance attire from head to toe.

Then, she suppressed a self-aware grin. “Who am I kidding? I was never going to miss this.”

Before Saturday, the last time Celtics fans saw Brown was on television, after he had just fouled out of a frustrating Game 6 blowout loss in which seemingly nothing went the Celtics’ way.

After the defeat, he addressed fans in his postgame press conference: “I know Boston — it looks gloomy right now, obviously with JT being out, and us ending the year, but it’s a lot to look forward to. I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end.”

For many of the fans at the pop-up, the remark provided a sense of comfort, a sort of light, after a devastating sequence of events few could have predicted.

“It really, really hurt,” said one fan of the Celtics’ season-ending 119-81 loss at Madison Square Garden, which came just four days after Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon. “But, Jaylen saying that? I don’t know how to explain it, but it really helped.”

Jaylen Brown arrived at the 741 pop-up with his grandfather, Willie

And, when the duo pulled up on Saturday afternoon, the rain momentarily halted.

For a moment, the Celtics’ 2024 Finals MVP stopped to take in the scene: the parents and kids who had been on the street since the early morning, the diehard fans who arrived overnight in hopes of securing a free pair of shoes (the first 10 arrivals were promised free pairs by 741 Performance).

Many of the faces that greeted Brown and his grandfather were ones Brown had seen countless times throughout his 9-year Celtics career.

“People here really waited in the rain for hours – a lot of really good fans and supporters that I appreciate a lot,” he told CelticsBlog. “And I know a lot of people are very highly critical of our performances, but I do appreciate the ones that support you through thick and thin.”

Brown candidly shared his aspirations for next season with the fans who greeted him, diving into the frustration of how things ended, and taking the time to get to know each and every person who had waited to meet him for hours.

“This?” he said, gesturing to the sea of green seemingly growing by the minute. “It motivates me to be even better.”

Today, over a week removed from the Celtics’ painful elimination, Jaylen Brown feels as connected to the city of Boston as ever

So, he’s thinking of spending an unprecedented amount of time in the community this summer.

Since being drafted by the team in 2016, Jaylen Brown has never actually spent an entire offseason in Boston. His wide array of plans and interests have taken him across the world; last year, he spent much of his summer in the Middle East, performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca just days after the Celtics hoisted their championship trophy. In 2019, he was part of USA Basketball’s World Cup team in China with Tatum and Derrick White.

But this year, for the very first time, Brown is leaning toward spending most of his offseason in the city he’s called home since he was 19.

“I’m in the community a lot, but I’m leaning toward being even more in the community,” Brown said. “I’m just really trying to touch this community and be around, be available for the city of Boston.”

In July, the Celtics star is once again hosting the Bridge program at MIT, a multi-day educational and leadership initiative for Black and Brown youth from 8th to 12th grade. At Bridge, Brown spends all day, every day with the students, who study a range of topics from community organizing to artificial intelligence.

Saeed Saeed, a 17-year-old from East Boston who participated in the program in 2023 — told CelticsBlog last year that the program changed him forever.

“Those five days were probably the best days of my life,” Saeed said

Brown is still figuring out the rest of his plans, still processing the reality that for the first time in years, his season has ended in mid-May. The last time the Celtics were eliminated this early in the postseason with Brown active in the lineup was in 2019, when Boston fell to Milwaukee in the second round of the playoffs.

So, simply being free this early in the spring is somewhat of a shock to the system.

“I was expecting to be playing right now,” he said, the reality seemingly still dawning on him as he spoke.

Jaylen Brown is still considering offseason knee surgery

One of Brown’s top offseason priorities is getting healthy — he finished the season with a partially torn meniscus in his right knee, battling through pain for the second half of the year.

When Brad Stevens spoke to reporters on Monday, he expressed optimism about Brown’s prognosis.

“The knee is in a good place, structurally,” Stevens said. “So I think he felt comfortable getting out there and going after it, and, hopefully, he’ll feel better after being off of it for a couple of weeks here.”

On Saturday, Brown told CelticsBlog that surgery to repair that torn meniscus remains on the table.

“l got a lot of doctors I gotta get evaluated with — see the potential for surgery versus no surgery, wait to speak to the [Celtics] organization,” he said. “For now, it’s just rest and recovery. I’m taking a step back from a long season. Mentally, it was a lot of stuff going on.”

In the meantime, 741 Performance has served as a sort of anchor

Jaylen Brown officially launched the futuristic performance brand in September, guided by the prospect of showing other athletes that there’s a viable alternative to signing with a major sneaker company: there’s a pathway toward building your very own.

“This is probably one of the things I’m most proud of,” Brown said. “I’ve lectured at five universities. I’m an MIT fellow. I’ve done a lot of things in my career and off the court. I’ve been a champion. I’ve gone to Mecca. Launching my own shoe — and playing in my own shoe — is a feeling like no other.”

The CFO of 741 Performance, Brown’s close lifelong friend Donte’ “Tae” Durr, told CelticsBlog in February that after the Celtics star verbalized he wanted to launch his own sneaker years ago, the tireless work to actualize that dream began.

“We started having more conversations, trying to research and figure out what it looks like to put yourself in a position to create a performance shoe,” Durr said. “And then, luckily, we started to make introductions with people who had experience in the industry, who had creative ideas of their own.”

The biggest domino fell when Brown and his team stumbled upon a group of experts interested in debuting a new, innovative sneaker technology. But, they didn’t have a brand with which to launch that technology, and they didn’t want to simply sell it off to a larger corporation.

Thus, a fortuitous collaboration emerged.

“The next thing you know, you’re holding a prototype,” Durr said. “And it’s the most insane thing ever.”

Today, Brown’s sneaker is for sale in three color schemes: Black Moon, Gray Nebular, and White Noise. In addition to that, 741 has an exhaustive apparel line — pants, shirts, skirts, jackets, the like. The clothing is intended to be versatile.

“It’s elevated performance loungewear,” said fashion designer Hilda Batayneh, who works with Brown and 741 Performance. “It’s not intended to be your true workout clothes, but you can wear it for that. But we’re intending it as fashion – dress it up, dress it down.”

Batayneh met with Brown to conceptualize and finalize the design of the apparel over the course of years. She likened the experience to Brown going to design school.

Every time the Celtics played a game in New York, Brown squeezed in a meeting with Batayneh. Whenever he had a day off in Boston, she’d make the trip to the Bay State to do the same.

“It was an amazing process with him,” Batayneh told CelticsBlog in February. “And he truly has a very detailed eye, which is very rare for someone who’s not a trained designer.”

Still in its first year, Brown considers the launch of his own company a success.

“Just to really get it out there is an accomplishment in itself,” he said. “Just to take the route of independence and starting your own brand… for a high-profile athlete, you don’t really see that too often, especially at this stage in my career. It’s a lot of risk in that, but I wanted the next generation to know it’s possible.”

One of Brown’s biggest points of pride has been that fans who purchase his sneakers get to wear the exact shoe he dons on the TD Garden parquet — nothing more, nothing less.

That’s not typically the norm in the sneaker industry, he said.

“Usually, the athlete is wearing something totally different from what’s being sold, because they want to increase the margins,” Brown said. “Kobe Bryant wasn’t wearing the same shoe that you go buy. But, you’re wearing the same exact shoe that I wear.”

Those closest to Brown aren’t surprised he’s been able to turn his longtime dream into an actual company.

“When you’re dealing with JB, I can’t even call it a miracle,” Turr said. “It’s almost an expectation.”

Ensuring a high sneaker quality was the top priority from the get-go. But, Brown is still tinkering with the design and aesthetics of the sneakers and apparel. The plans are endless — to incorporate geothermal, to integrate science, to build upon Year 1 and far into the future.

“If you like it now, you’re going to love it in the future,” Brown said. “Sometimes you don’t want to make things perfect. Sometimes you just gotta do it and then let it grow and change it as you are doing it, instead of just trying to be the perfect brand out the gate. Entrepreneurs understand that. Small business owners understand that. Sometimes, the public doesn’t.”

As an athlete, Jaylen Brown has always been motivated by those who doubt him.

As an entrepreneur, his mindset is the same.

“People may critique you,” he said. “People may say things, but let’s see in five years where we’re gonna be.”

But not everyone is a critic; many are just thrilled to wear the futuristic apparel that is the brainchild of their favorite athlete.

So, rather than simply spending 20 minutes at the 741 pop-up, shaking a few hands, taking a few photos, and calling it a day, Brown hung out for hours, opting to get to know every single person who chose to suffer through the onslaught of rain.

A DJ urged fans to speed up their interactions to ensure that everyone got a chance to meet the four-time All-Star.

But, Brown said that since the Celtics were no longer playing, he had all the time in the world. So, rather than rush through each conversation, he chatted with fans for several minutes apiece, his time seemingly infinite.

For five hours, he sat in the rain and immersed himself in the Celtics community that still cherished him, even through the playoffs’ disappointment. His grandfather sat a few feet away, watching the scene with pride.

Today, Brown is looking toward the future — whatever that may hold.

“Right now, I’m decompressing emotionally,” he said. “And then in a week or so, I pick up the pieces. I see what the direction is for myself, my health, and the organization. And, whatever the outcome is, I’m excited.”