WASHINGTON — The Celtics might become the last NBA team to visit the White House for several years as the administration that led multiple league champions to skip the ceremony returns in January.
Nobody skipped this trip, and while a divisive political climate and team-led initiatives to enact policy change rested in the backdrop of the ceremony on Thursday, Boston’s roster and coaching staff focused mostly on their championship during the event.
Some members of the organization took part in policy discussions, though Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum said at Friday’s shootaround that they did not. Tatum and Derrick White just wanted to take pictures and see the setting where some of his favorite players growing up celebrated their titles. Brown mentioned being willing to join his teammates anywhere.
“Everything is a political decision if you ask me,” Brown said when asked by CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell how players decide whether to attend or not. “But personally, what I would say, I would go to Waffle House or wherever with my guys to celebrate what we’ve done. It doesn’t really matter. It’s about our group, so to celebrate with our group that we did something special is pretty cool to me.”
Brown expressed support for the Raise the Age initiative, which the Boston Celtics have advocated for and hosted a home game in 2023 that included warmups that donned the slogan and links leading fans to more information and ways they can support the change. The law would look to consider 18-20 year olds in the criminal justice system as juveniles, citing research that it leads to more effective for those young people. Joe Mazzulla also spoke out in favor of it then. The Celtics’ Curbside Care initiative team also advocated for women’s health care during the White House visit, a program White has taken part in that supports local mothers in the Boston area.
While the NBA and its player’s union spent the weeks leading up to the election earlier this month rallying for fans to register to vote and players have supported causes important to them, this Celtics visit took on a less political tone among players than their 2023 one, for example. Malcolm Brogdon, Grant Williams and Brown, then, met with Justice Department officials in support of Raise the Age shortly after Brown criticized fans in the NY Times who didn’t want to see players utilize their voices.
“I wasn’t part of (policy discussions),” Brown said on Friday. “But I’m always part of advocating for change. I think the organization has been pushing that along … I support them. I think bringing awareness to certain topics helped move the needle a little bit more, so being able to address some of those things, even a couple of years ago when I went with Grant and Malcolm, we addressed the same things. So to be able to bring it back up and even that bill, I think, has gotten passed now. To bring awareness to certain things, I think, is a huge part of moving the needle.”
Mike Zarren, the team’s assistant general manager, mentioned after the White House visit that the team met President Joe Biden before the ceremony and a meeting would take place after discussing policy with the team’s Shamrock Foundation and Celtics United. Players didn’t sound involved in that process, perhaps due to the nature of the event.
The Biden administration also only has less than two months left in office, though numerous local politicians including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and numerous local legislators filled most of the seats at the championship ceremony. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey also attended. Despite the limited discussions that went on Thursday, Brown, the team’s only remaining union vice president, believes that player advocacy remains in a good place.
“In that moment, we were there to celebrate our championship,” Brown said. “But even in that, we’re still using our platform to bring up certain initiatives. Any time we get a chance to use our platform to create change, I’m an advocate and supporter of that … we were there to celebrate with our guys. That’s what it was … all the other stuff is important, but that’s what we were there for, to cherish that moment with that moment with my teammates, with my brothers, with my guys, so that’s what I was focused on.”
