BOSTON — Jaylen Brown made his first return to TD Garden since being traded away from the Celtics this week and reportedly decided the healthiest way to process the experience was from several rooms away.
Rather than sit on the visiting bench, Brown watched the game from the locker room, choosing what team sources described as “a respectful but emotionally responsible distance from his ex.”
Witnesses said Brown briefly considered sitting courtside before remembering that TD Garden contained thousands of people who used to cheer for him, several banners he helped hang, and approximately one million opportunities for a television camera to capture him looking reflective.
He instead selected the locker room, where the lighting was softer, the questions were fewer, and nobody could zoom in on his face every time Boston made a three.
Celtics fans immediately interpreted the decision with the calm restraint for which sports fans are famous.
Some called it strange. Others called it emotional. Several concluded that Brown was clearly afraid to sit near the court, because apparently choosing not to stare directly at your former workplace for two and a half hours is now a sign of weakness.
Team officials insisted there was nothing dramatic about the decision.
Brown simply preferred to watch from somewhere private.
At press time, he was reportedly doing fine until the broadcast showed another slow-motion shot of TD Garden and somebody in the locker room quietly asked, “You good?”
