Why does Jaylen Brown wear a mask?
The face mask worn by the Celtics star has become associated with him, to the point that when he removes it, it means a shift toward a more serious tone.
Fans of the Atlanta Hawks know all too well what happens when Jaylen Brown removes the mask he’s been wearing since February. Indeed, in the fourth game of their opening-round playoff series against the Celtics, Brown did just that and proceeded to lay siege to the Hawks. So notable was the way in which Brown turned things up that many fans were left wondering why he continues to wear the mask. There’s a good reason.
Why does Jaylen Brown wear a mask?
If you missed it, Brown suffered a facial injury during Boston’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers back on February 8th. What’s worse is that it actually came as a result of a collision with his teammate, Jayson Tatum. Late in the second quarter, the pair came together when Tatum pursued the ball after missing a 3-point attempt. Following the impact, Brown immediately went to the ground holding his face. It wasn’t long before he was ruled out of the game with a facial contusion. After the game, it was reported that he had suffered a facial fracture and would “miss some time.”
That time ended up being four consecutive games, after which he returned on February 23rd, sporting a black mask for the purpose of protection. “It’s pretty thick,” Brown said of the mask postgame. “Sometimes it gets a little hot on your face. I felt protected. I didn’t shy away from contact. I didn’t feel like I had to alter my game a little or anything like that. ...It’s a little uncomfortable at times, and then sometimes you have to get your head around to make sure you see everything, somebody coming from behind or somebody’s in your side view. But just be able to make those adjustments, got to keep your head up and see the floor.” It would be fair to say that Brown handled those adjustments very well. In the 19 regular season games that he played with it, he averaged 27.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists.
Why does Jaylen Brown continue to wear the mask?
It’s now been a few months since Brown suffered the injury, but he still continues to wear the mask. The obvious question is why? When asked back in March why he continued to wear the mask, Brown explained that his injury had not fully healed and, moreover, his mother had asked him to keep using the mask.
“I think it’s not fully healed,” Brown said. “I think what they said, like, you got like six weeks until the cartilage starts to grow back, so you’re, I guess, safe if you were to take another hit. But you still got like another six weeks before, I guess, it fully gets back to where it is or where it’s supposed to be. So I guess technically, I got like a couple more days, or I don’t have to wear it any more if I didn’t want to. But if you wanna be safe, they say, you keep wearing it. My mom wants me to wear it, so I’ll probably keep wearing it.”