Brown Reveals Insider Story: He Seriously Considered Leaving the Celtics, but McGrady Advised Him to Stay in Boston

On November 25th, during the latest live broadcast, Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown admitted that he had seriously contemplated leaving the Celtics to pursue a more prominent role with another team. Brown said that one of his main NBA mentors, McGrady, intervened in time and advised him not to leave Boston.

“Those days in Boston were sometimes really tough,” Brown said. “I lost count of how many trade rumors I was dragged into. For whatever reasons, there were always various things going on.”

“Brad (Stevens, Celtics President of Basketball Operations) or other management might have thought some players fit the team better or were willing to pay higher salaries, and so on. So at that time, I thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to leave.’ You know what I mean? I felt I could go elsewhere where my scoring ability, which is very strong, could be better utilized, but here I wasn’t given enough room to grow.”

Brown then revealed that McGrady advised him not to leave the Celtics. “McGrady said, ‘Stay, brother.’ I was stunned at that moment, like, ‘Huh?’”

Brown was initially puzzled by McGrady’s advice because McGrady’s own playing career blossomed after leaving the Toronto Raptors and parting ways with Vince Carter. McGrady and Carter’s relationship on the Raptors was somewhat similar to the current situation of Tatum and Brown on the Celtics — but after joining the Magic, McGrady became one of the NBA’s top scorers, maintaining peak performance later with the Rockets. McGrady led the NBA in scoring for two consecutive seasons (2002-04), was selected to 7 All-Star Games, and is now inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

However, McGrady never won an NBA championship during his career.

This might be why McGrady was so adamant in advising Brown to stay in Boston — for a chance to compete for a championship.

In fact, Brown revealed that one of the core reasons McGrady urged him to remain with the Celtics was because the team offered a real opportunity to win a title. “If you have a chance to win a championship, then give it your all,” McGrady told Brown.

That was wise advice. Brown ultimately won the NBA championship with the Celtics in 2024 and earned the Finals MVP award thanks to his outstanding performance.