Jaylen Brown dreamt of representing his country at a Paralympics but not even he could forecast his meteoric rise in 2024.
When the Rollers travelled to Thailand in January in bid to qualify for Paris, Brown wasn’t selected in the touring party.
But through a European campaign with Italian outfit Amicacci Abruzzo, form in lead-up games and in the national wheelchair competition, where he would go on to win a championship with the Darwin Salties, the 19-year-old forced his way into the team and is playing in his first major, senior tournament on the biggest sporting stage of all.
“It’s been a goal but I wasn’t expecting it this time (Paris) ‘round,” Brown says.
“I think I’m still a bit shocked but also excited. I missed out on the qualifiers in January this year and it’s been a big few months since.
“Going to Italy definitely helped a lot. I only finished high school last year so I would say last year I was more focused on school and not training as much. Going to Italy, doing two two-hour sessions a day helped and went a very long way.
“I think playing against men every weekend definitely helped too.”
Rollers coach Brad Ness said while Brown was a rising star he brought more to the program that an impressive skillset and basketball IQ describing his energy and enthusiasm as infectious.
“I don’t think there’d be a sporting team in Australia that wouldn’t want a Jaylen Brown on their team,” he said.
“We’re quite lucky because Jaylen’s trajectory over the last six months has been unbelievable.”
Brown scored 5 points in 17 minutes court time on Paralympic debut against the Netherlands on Friday morning, Australian time, then produced a breakout performance against Spain that night with a team-high 22 points against Spain.
The high-point player, who was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency and had his right leg amputated as a two-year-old, grew up around basketball and in stadiums as his mum Louise McLean played for the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL, hometown Big V team Warrnambool Mermaids and in Queensland.
“She’s taught me most things I know, I wouldn’t tell her that though,” Brown laughs.
“She knows everything, like mum’s do.”
It was at a stadium in Brisbane where it all changed for Brown and he discovered he could be what he could see.
“I followed Mum around with all her basketball and she played in a lot of different places when I was young,” he recalls.
“When I was six, we moved to Brisbane and she played for Northside up there. I was at one of her trainings one day and there was a wheelchair basketball game being played on the next court and that was the first time I’d seen or heard of wheelchair basketball.
“I went over and got in a chair and that’s where it all started.”
And as one of six Paralympic debutants in Paris and a huge career ahead, Brown himself is just getting started on the international stage.
