Jaylen Brown isn’t a Celtic anymore, but he’s still leaving his mark on the team’s fandom.
Hours after Brown was traded to the 76ers on Wednesday, the longtime Celtics guard comforted a young fan who was devastated about the trade news.
Brown replied to the video of a 6-year-old boy named Gio crying and processing the news that his favorite player wouldn’t be bleeding green and white any longer.
“It’s OK lil bro,” Brown wrote in the video’s comments, along with a heart emoji. “We will always be friends.”
In the now-viral Instagram video, Gio is wearing Brown’s No. 7 jersey while thanking him for everything he did for the Celtics.
“I love you so much. You mean a lot to me, and you are my favorite player in the whole NBA,” Gio said through tears.
Gio also held up a letter he asked to be mailed that said, “I love you, JB. Come back one day.”
The 6-year-old’s meltdown was an unfamiliar sight for his mother, too.
“I think my 6-year-old just experienced his first heartbreak. His favorite player Jaylen Brown got traded. I am in tears watching him cry like this,” the post’s caption reads.
Gio has met Brown twice at school before, and his mother thinks of the former Celtic as a role model.
“He’s [Brown] always there for the kids. He’s always willing to meet the parents, he’s so humble,” Gio’s mother, Gigi Jean, told reporters.
“I don’t think we’ll get another player that is so into the community, that is humble, that’s educated,” she added. “Hopefully they make up for it. My baby’s sad.”
After a decade in Boston, the Celtics traded Brown to the 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
It makes sense why Gio was so upset. Brown just checked about nearly every box during his 10 years with the Celtics.
Brown averaged 20 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and didn’t average fewer than 20 points after 2018-19 while making five All-Star teams and winning the 2024 NBA Finals MVP.
George, who the Celtics acquired for Brown, is likely a future Hall of Famer but is toward the tail end of his career.
But if George adequately fills Brown’s void, maybe Gio will become a George superfan too.
