Then-Cal star Brown predicted NBA Finals success at 2016 Warriors game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Jaylen Brown knew he would be special long before he took home the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award for his part in the Boston Celtics’ dominant 2024 NBA Finals run.
It was during pregame warmups at a 2016 finals game between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena that the then Cal Bear guard great called his shot.
“I’m Jaylen Brown, [I attend] California Berkeley right up the street, [and] one day I’ll be here in the [NBA] Finals,” Brown said … “I want to be here so bad. I will be here.” (h/t Point Forward)
Jaylen Brown taking in the Warriors warmups ahead of the 2016 Finals when he was a draft prospect.
“One day I’ll be in the NBA Finals…”
8 years later, he’s an NBA Champ & Finals MVP ✅ pic.twitter.com/xK3ibGUVfg
— Point Forward (@pointforward) June 18, 2024
During that night in Oakland, the current Celtics wing was just a hopeful 2016 NBA Draft prospect.
Brown was coming off a strong freshman campaign in Berkeley, where the then 19-year-old was an All-Pac-12 selection after averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game.
He also took Cal to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, which the program hasn’t returned to since.
Brown has come a long way since he watched the Warriors and Cavs face off in the prime of their rivalry.
In fact, he was starstruck when watching Golden State players warm up — not yet knowing he would face off with some them in the 2022 NBA Finals.
“Right now, I got like an adrenaline rush,” Brown shared. “I’m watching Steph Curry warm up, I’m watching Andre Iguodala warm up. I feel excited and ready to go. The draft is right around the corner, and I’ll have my chance.”
While Brown knew ultimately he would reach the NBA Finals as a professional, surely he couldn’t have imagined his first series on the game’s biggest stage would come against those very same Warriors six years later, where his Celtics would fall to Curry and Iguodala’s squad in six games — talk about full circle.
Also in the video, Brown caught up with…
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