Jaylen Brown: “I remember my first check in the NBA. It was like $182,000 or something like that, and I was 18 years old. I told them to mail it to me because I wanted to feel it, I wanted to touch it. Coming from a single-parent household, it was surreal to see that amount of money in my hands. I grew up in a situation where money was tight, so to suddenly have that, it was a crazy feeling. I remember thinking, ‘Welcome to the NBA.’ It’s not just about the money, though. It’s about what it represents—how far I’ve come and the opportunities it’s given me to help my family and others. That first check was a reminder of the hard work it took to get there, but also a motivation to keep pushing, to not get complacent.”