CAMBRIDGE — While news of Jaylen Brown’s supermax extension broke Tuesday, the largest contract in NBA history wasn’t official until he signed the paperwork. Instead of doing it in a conventional sense with a typical news conference, Brown wanted to sign his new deal in front of his students as part of his Bridge program.
That’s why Brown — surrounded by dozens of those students — formally signed his contract in front of them at the MIT Media Lab. Brown’s contract is worth up to $304 million over five years as he’s secured generational wealth. With that money, Brown said he wants to give back to the community in Boston.
“I want to launch a project to bring Black Wall Street here to Boston,” Brown said. “I want to attack the wealth disparity here. I think there’s analytics that supports that stimulating the wealth gap could actually be something that could be for the betterment of the entire economy. With the biggest financial deal in NBA history, it makes sense to talk about money invested in the community, but also the wealth disparity here that nobody wants to talk about.”
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Brown and his foundation helped organize the Bridge program, which is a multi-day camp for Black and Brown students for STEAM-related opportunities. Brown said he found out his extension was agreed upon when he was in a robotics lesson with the students. So he got the good news, but then went back to learning.
It’s far from the first time Brown has invested back into the Boston community in his seven years with the Celtics. Recently, Brown teamed up to help revamp the Fenelon basketball court in Dorchester, among other initiatives. It’s why Brown spoke about how he wants to use the money from his new deal to help stimulate Boston’s economy.
“Through my platform, through influential partners, through selective leaders, government officials, a lot of whom are in this room, that we can come together and create new jobs, new resources, new businesses, new ideas that could highlight minorities, but also stimulate the economy and the wealth gap at the same time,” Brown said. “Boston could be a fully integrated self-sufficient hub attacking minorities and stimulating the wealth gap. I think Boston could be a pilot, not just for wealth disparity and in the U.S., but also for around the world.
“I want to attack that wealth gap here in Boston, create a project. Also, I want to help stimulate the overall economy. And I want to bring Black Wall Street to Boston.”
