Ever since Celtics forward Jaylen Brown suffered a facial fracture in February, he’s had to play while wearing a protective face mask during games. As he gets further removed from the initial injury, he’s getting closer to being able to take the mask off.
However, Brown explained there isn’t a definitive timetable for that.
“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, via Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston. “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.”
Therefore, Brown has the option to take off the mask, but an important person in his life thinks he should keep wearing it.
“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,” he said. “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.”
It’s not as if the mask has hindered Brown, as he is coming off a 43-point, 13-rebound performance Sunday night against the Spurs. That marked his eighth straight game with at least 20 points, a span which includes three 30-point performances and two 40-point performances.
So, Brown will probably keep the mask on for the foreseeable future, if nothing more than to make his mother happy.
