Feature
Jaylen Brown Is Taking On Nike With $200 Sneakers
The Celtics star wants to rethink the way athletes do business with footwear giants.
Brown, seated, talks business with the 741 team in Boston.
Photographer: Tony Luong for Bloomberg Businessweek
Jaylen Brown and I are in the dining area of the Auerbach Center, the Boston Celtics’ 70,000-square-foot practice facility on the city’s west side. Brown spent this late September day in the media room answering reporters’ questions about the coming season—Will the Celtics repeat as NBA champions? Can he follow his best season with an even better one? Is he still angry he was left off the US Olympic basketball team?—but now we’re looking at a laptop while he finishes some brisket.