Jaylen Brown was born on October 24, 1996, in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Mechalle and Marselles Brown are his parents, and he has an elder brother named Quenton. The Boston Celtics shooting guard presently resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

What you need to know about Jaylen Brown’s family is as follows:

1. Jaylen Brown grew up in Georgia with a single mother and an older brother

Brown grew up in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. As a single mother, Mechalle Brown raised him and his older brother Quenton. The family’s priorities were action and education from a young age.

He attended Wheeler High School and played small forward for the basketball team, rapidly impressing with his talent on the court. His mother told ESPN that his passion for basketball began when he was 9 months old and saw a basketball roll by him on their living room floor.

“I call him the old man,” his mother said, according to The Boston Herald. “His concentration began when he was very, very young.” He was a dedicated youngster. He was always carrying a ball with him. He began putting in those practice hours very early on. He’d do his homework first, then go out in the yard and shoot.”

When it came to Brown’s college selection, the emphasis was apparent. While he might have gone to Kentucky, Kansas, or North Carolina, he chose the University of California, Berkeley, and the Cal Bears. He told Andscape that he appreciated the academic attractiveness of the school and paid for a visit there out of his own wallet.

“Education is something that is very important to me and my family,” Brown told the outlet. “Cal Berkeley ranks first on the ranking. When I went there, the university was a good fit for me.”

Brown’s mother also instilled in her sons the value of activism. “Speak up for yourself,” she said, according to ESPN, “and speak up for others who may not be able to speak up for themselves.” He was a member of Habitat for Humanity and developed a recycling program at Wheeler High School, according to 247Sports.

2. Jaylen Brown’s mother is Mechalle Brown, an educator who is passionate about education and activism

Brown is very close to his mother, Mechalle Brown, and it’s evident from hearing him speak that she had a significant influence on his life and charity efforts. According to the Detroit News, his mother grew raised in Muskegon, Michigan, and is a professor with a bachelor of science degree from Michigan State and an MBA from American InterContinental University. She is currently listed as an adjunct instructor in the faculty directory of Boston’s Cambridge College.

In an interview with 247Sports, he said, “My mom always encouraged me to join a lot of extracurricular activities, keep me occupied, so maybe my mother’s the reason I was into a lot of that stuff, and a lot of that cultural capital I got from Wheeler High School, I give credit to my mother, because that’s where credit is due.”

In fact, she told The Ringer that she constantly warned her son that being an athlete was not enough. “No matter how tall you are, and how well you play the game, basketball is what you do, it is not who you are,” she remarked. “The mark you leave on the world defines who you are.” And, in order to properly leave your impact on the world, you must do the right things and speak up against the wrong ones. However, you must utilize your voice to do so. After using your voice, you must back it up with deeds.”

Brown’s mother is also involved in his organization, the 7uice organization, he said at an event at the Massachusetts State House in 2020, according to NBC. “It was your lessons that allowed me to question inequality, inequality in education, and to challenge and encourage the growth that we still have yet to do,” he said in a video dedicated to his mother.

3. Jaylen Brown’s father, Marselles Brown, is a former heavyweight boxer

Marselles Brown, Brown’s father, is a successful athlete in his own right. Marselles Brown stands 7’0″ and was a champion heavyweight fighter in the past. According to BoxRec, he was born in Hawaii and concluded his career with a record of 33-18-1 with 25 knockouts. According to Boxing247, he is the 2016 World Boxing Union (WBU) World Champion and the 2015 WBU C.A.M. Heavyweight Champion.

Marselles Brown was a member of the Hawaii State Boxing Commission Board at the time of his interview with Boxing247 in 2016. The NBA star’s father announced his retirement to encourage his children to never give up on their dreams. “My main motivation for coming out of retirement was to show my kids that I never gave up on my dreams,” he said. “So I didn’t want them to abandon theirs.” “I am very proud of both of my sons.”

Brown, he said, was “an extraordinary athlete and very smart.” He also gave his sons some advise, calling the entertainment world “nasty” and encouraged them to “stay on course.”

4. Jaylen Brown is close to his older brother and has spoken about the influence of his grandparents

Brown values his family, and several members of his family are involved with his 7uice business. According to Red Bull, his cousin Malcolm Durr serves as the creative director of Brown’s 7uice fashion brand, while his older brother Quenton Brown is the director of the 7uice Foundation, according to his Instagram profile.

While Brown pursued a basketball career, his older brother was a football player who attended the University of Central Florida, according to his LinkedIn profile. He studied business administration and management and also works as an athlete relations coordinator at Playbooked.

His grandparents were extremely influential in his life. According to the New York Times, he spent his summers in Michigan with his maternal grandmother, Diane Varnado, a retired public school teacher and social worker. He recounted a day when he and his brother were required to write an essay explaining why they wanted an Xbox 360.

“‘If you want something, you’ve got to be able to explain why,'” Brown told them. Varnado died on February 18, 2023, according to her obituary, and Brown changed his Instagram profile photo to one of his grandmothers.

Brown’s grandfather Willie Brown, on his father’s side of the family, had a tremendous impact on his life by teaching him chess. He learned to play chess against his grandfather and went on to captain the high school chess team. He once took a chess class in college and told Andscape that the game is “comparable to life.”

In fact, his mother told ESPN that she could tell chess had changed her son’s perspective on life. He began to approach things more systematically, she added, as if he were planning many movements ahead of time and plotting his next steps.

Brown’s grandfather was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020, and the NBA player stated that he will not enter the NBA bubble as a result. Willie Brown had moved into his grandson’s house, and he explained to GQ, “The reason I chose to leave, me and him made a deal.” He had cancer and was not going to battle it. ‘If you play, I’ll play,’ I assured him. Brown revealed to GQ in late 2020 that his granddad was cancer-free.

5. Jaylen Brown’s Entire Brown Family Placed a High Value on Education When He Was Growing Up, and He Said It’s His ‘Identity’

If the Browns have learned anything, it is the value of education. The Celtics player has spoken about it multiple times and stated that higher education has been the road for many of his family members. Indeed, according to his mother, Mechalle Brown, education is “the family business.”

Brown’s uncles and aunts all have PhDs and other degrees, and it was instilled in him and his brother at a young age that they should focus on education, he told 247Sports. “It’s part of my identity,” he explained.

“My family has a strong educational background,” he continued. “They made it clear that it was critical for us to obtain an education, and how important education and knowledge are.” That is something I take very seriously, and it is essentially who I am. I believe that simply exerting myself on that area of my life would propel me further than basketball.”