Jaylen Brown's Me-First Mindset Could Hurt the 76ers

Segment Spotlight: Quick Hits From Pushing The Odds with Matt Perrault

Jalen Brown’s Public Comments Raise Questions About Maturity and Team Priorities

Jalen Brown is supremely talented. He is second on the team in Philadelphia in scoring, just behind Maxi, and is having a great start. The team is 9-2, so everything has gone well so far.

The concern is Brown’s public comments about his favorite season. When asked on a social media stream, he chose the season in which Jayson Tatum was out and Brown became the leading player. He did not choose the championship season or the year he won NBA Finals MVP. Instead, he selected a season in which the team failed and he did not deliver when Tatum went down against the Knicks in the playoffs.

That answer made it sound as though Brown valued being the central figure more than winning. It also publicly suggested that he and Tatum did not click and that Brown preferred playing without him. That reflects immaturity and could eventually become a distraction for the Sixers if he continues making similar comments.

LeBron James may be someone who can tell Brown when to keep quiet. LeBron does many things, but he can also be the smartest person in the room and recognize when not to speak publicly.

A recent interview with Mike Breen, Clyde Frazier and Karl-Anthony Towns offered a useful comparison. Towns acknowledged that he was immature when he was younger. He explained that players can enter the league wanting to prove they are “nice” by scoring and showing everyone that their work in the gym justifies their status, NBA 2K rating, contract and All-NBA recognition.

Towns said he eventually realized that none of those things matter as much as winning. He could average 30 points per game, but his transformation into a team player during the playoffs—making passes and defending Wemby in the finals—would define how people viewed him more than individual 30- or 40-point performances.

That is the issue with Jalen Brown. His focus appears to be on himself and what he is doing rather than on winning.