Celtics

Jaylen Brown contract negotiations: A closer look at the NBPA event holding up talks

The Celtics reportedly can offer Brown up to $304 million over the next five years.

By Tom Westerholm

July 19, 2023

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 3

As the summer drags on and Jaylen Brown remains without a contract extension, the status of his negotiations with the Celtics becomes increasingly interesting.

For now, talks are reportedly on hold as Brown is overseas participating in an event with the NBPA, according to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach. The timing is a little odd — what would it take to drag you away from negotiations that could result in a contract worth more than $300 million? And why can’t Brown’s agent, the highly experienced Jason Glushon, just handle the negotiations in his absence?

Still, Brown is a vice president of the NBPA and an enthusiastic traveler. So in lieu of new updates on his negotiations — the usual chorus of “everything is fine, no worries” continues to emanate from the Celtics courtesy of plugged-in reporters — it might be interesting to examine the event that has pulled him away from the negotiating table.

Per his Instagram, Brown appears to be participating in an event called The Sanctuary.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NBPA (@thenbpa)

The Sanctuary takes place in Andalusia, Spain, and boasts a pretty impressive collection of services for the players who attend. The Sanctuary runs from July 17-22. In other words, don’t expect updates on Brown’s contract situation until next week at the absolute earliest.

That’s where we end our concrete analysis of Brown’s contract negotiations. For anyone who, like us, is interested in what the NBPA offers players who want to participate in a “performance retreat,” read on.

Courtesy of the NBPA’s website, The Sanctuary is in its second season. Last year, at the inaugural event, 14 players from 11 NBA teams took part, including Brown, Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley, Kings big man Domantas Sabonis, and Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga. A blurb from Thunder forward Davis Bertans on the NBPA website notes that participants get “good food, nice weather, and the chance to play 5-on-5 with players you usually see during the season. It’s really fun.”

Players have 24/7 access to facilities where they can scrimmage and work on their games. The Sanctuary also claims to provide “growth opportunities” for players globally (presumably, this means players have opportunities to find international sponsorship deals).

The NBPA website also advertises:

• Private transfers to and from the airport as well as to dinners, parties, and golf courses

• Yacht rentals
• Backstage access to local concerts
• Last-minute bookings at local restaurants
• Organized sightseeing trips
• And of course, daily content for social media channels because no trip (and no offseason basketball workout) is complete unless it is documented with beautiful lighting and framing for Instagram.

In addition, the NBPA advertises a “Performance Summit” that takes place along with The Sanctuary where “an impressive lineup of industry experts, innovators, and athletes” participate in panels such as “Similarities between Entrepreneurship and Professional Sports” and “Revolutionizing Athlete Performance with AI.”

In his role as a VP of the NBPA, Brown likely has a commitment to The Sanctuary that required him to travel and try to boost participation. Still, if you are being pulled away from negotiating the richest contract in NBA history, you could do a lot worse than a week of workouts, restaurants, sightseeing, and golf in Spain.