NBA star Jaylen Brown says there's a downside to wealth that people don't talk about

Aug 18, 2026 05:03 PM - 1 hour ago 1

Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown said his occurrence and wealthiness had an effect connected his interpersonal relationships. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

NBA star Jaylen Brown said that getting rich | came astatine a costs to his relationships.

On Monday's section of the "Boardroom" podcast, the basketball player said astir really his occurrence changed the measurement he viewed money and interacted pinch the group astir him.

Brown began gaining nickname for his hoops skills astatine a young age, and his increasing floor plan helped easiness immoderate of the financial unit connected his family.

"It wasn't needfully monetary wealth, but you could spot wealthiness was being accumulated," Brown said. "My mom didn't person to salary for camps anymore. At astir 13 aliases 14 years old, I didn't person to salary for hoops sneakers anymore."

Brown started to get opportunities that galore of his peers — who, for illustration him, grew up successful single-parent households pinch constricted resources and opportunities — didn't have.

As his fame grew, he said he began noticing envy from those astir him, and those dynamics became much analyzable arsenic he gained fame and wealth.

Over time, he said, he developed a consciousness of stoicism to cope.

"Friends, family, they tin fto you down, man. They tin disappoint you successful ways and wounded you successful ways that it changes you," he said. "The magnitude of money, the magnitude of clout, the magnitude of fame that you're capable to get puts unit connected the group astir you, particularly the ones closest to you."

Navigating really occurrence changed his interactions pinch others had been "the hardest part," because it "puts you connected an island, isolates you," Brown said.

"Conversations go invoices, the lines get blurred, and it gets tough," he said.

Brown said he had besides knowledgeable moments erstwhile he didn't consciousness for illustration he could move to the group astir him for support because they assumed he had everything "figured out" and could spend "whatever" he needed.

But Brown said he couldn't ever grip everything connected his own. "You don't needfully consciousness for illustration you tin inquire for help," he said.

Brown was drafted 3rd wide by the Boston Celtics successful 2016. In 2023, he signed a five-year, $303.7 cardinal statement hold pinch the team, per ESPN. He played 10 seasons successful Boston earlier being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers successful July.

The NBA jock isn't unsocial successful uncovering that money tin complicate individual connections.

Business Insider has antecedently profiled respective self-made millionaires who said becoming able strained their friendships and left them emotion isolated. They said differences successful spending habits, demanding activity schedules, and expectations astir money created a region betwixt them and group they were erstwhile adjacent to.

Navigating those dynamics tin mean acknowledging that wealth, overmuch for illustration beauty, influences really group respond to you, Clay Cockrell, a licensed objective societal worker who useful pinch high-net-worth individuals, told Business Insider.

"People are going to beryllium attracted to you for different reasons," he said, "and it's important for you to ain that, but past not fto that needfully unreality your judgment."

Read next

Amanda is simply a elder manner newsman astatine Business Insider's Singapore bureau.Her reporting explores really group navigate awesome life transitions, including profession changes, relocation, and retirement, pinch a peculiar attraction connected the experiences of those surviving successful Asia. She besides writes astir travel, culture, wellness, and relationships.In 2025, she won the Singapore Press Club's Rising Stars Young Digital Journalist Award.She antecedently worked arsenic a writer and video shaper astatine a contented trading agency successful Singapore. She graduated from the University astatine Buffalo pinch a BA (Hons) successful Sociology.

More