Jaylen Brown still wears a protective mask more than a month after sustaining a facial fracture in a collision with Boston Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum. While his condition has improved, the mask is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Brown told our Abby Chin after Sunday's blowout win over the San Antonio Spurs that his mom wants him to continue wearing the mask as a precaution. He provided an update on his injury, and reiterated his mother's request, during his postgame press conference.
Celtics-Spurs takeaways: Jaylen drops 41 in blowout win
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"I think it's not fully healed. 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," Brown said. "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 anymore 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."
Given his recent performance, Brown should be in no rush to drop the mask. The 26-year-old has been Boston's best player since the All-Star break. He stayed hot with a 41-point outburst in Sunday's victory.
The Celtics surely won't mind Brown taking a cautious approach with seven games remaining in the regular season. They currently sit only 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for first place in the Eastern Conference standings.