It takes a lot to suffer a moment so embarrassing that the only way to atone is to shave your head live on social media.
That’s what Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown had to do after his hairline spray rubbed off on New York Knicks player OG Anunoby during a game on Friday, October 24. While Brown, 29, was having his head shaved in a video posted via Twitch on Tuesday, October 28, he even called LeBron James for advice.
“Code Red, my n****,” Brown said in a voicemail. “Code Red. They caught me slippin’. I need to know — Turkey or no Turkey — and I ain’t talking no cheese sandwich. This some real s***, bro.”
For those blessed with luscious locks and not weighed down by the stress of male-pattern baldness, Turkey is a popular go-to destination for hair transplants. Though it’s unknown if James, 40, actually traveled to Turkey himself, his own hairline has made an impressive comeback over the second half of his NBA career.
Brown even took the time to look up flights to Turkey, asking, “What time do they leave? Can I get back before the game?”
The Celtics’ next game is Wednesday, October 29, against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so a quick trip across the world for a cosmetic procedure seems unlikely.
“I blame Boston,” Brown added. “10 years of media, stress, championship. This is y’all fault.”
Brown has played for Boston since 2016 when the Celtics drafted him third overall. Over 10 years, he has made four All-Star teams and was the 2024 NBA Finals MVP as Boston captured its 18th championship.
The organization rewarded him in 2023 with a five-year extension worth up to $304 million.
James, for his part, has not publicly responded to Brown’s plea for help. The receding hairline of one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, however, has long been a running gag in the NBA. His friend and former teammate Dwyane Wade joked about it in a 2022 appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast.
“It was like when God made him, he was like ‘I’m going to give you all this. But I’m going to take one thing from you,’” said Wade, now 43. “‘I’m not going to give you no lining. But I’m going to give you everything else.”
James is in on the fun, too. Speaking to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2017 about his fandom of the other GOAT, Michael Jordan, he explained everything that inspired him about His Airness.
“I shot fadeaways before I should have, I wore a leg sleeve on my leg and folded it down so you saw the red part, I wore black-and-red shoes with white socks, I wore short shorts so you could see my undershorts underneath, I didn’t go bald like Mike, but I’m getting there,” he said. “Other than that, I did everything Mike did.”
Amid his own struggles with his hairline, James released a collection of skincare and haircare products in 2024, which includes a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner.
“I remember going into the first barbershop I ever been to,” James said on “The Shop,” which he hosts with Maverick Carter. “Going into the shop, it’s a certain aura. You don’t need to read a newspaper after leaving the barbershop [because] you’re getting everything from politics to sports. And then you add on the men influencers in there, you add on the s—t talking that’s going on in there. That’s where we would get a lot of products from when we were younger.”
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