Celtics' Brown plans to continue wearing mask at mom's request

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown will soon no longer be required to wear the protective mask he's been sporting since suffering a facial contusion in February, but it could be a while before he ditches it for good.

Brown told reporters Sunday that his mom wants him to continue wearing the mask during games, which he plans to do.

"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 after putting up 41 points in a 137-93 win over the San Antonio Spurs, according to NBC Sports Boston's Justin Leger. "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."

Brown admitted earlier in March that he isn't particularly fond of wearing the mask because it limits his vision at times and makes it hard to breathe. The mask doesn't seem to have affected his play, though; he's averaged 31.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.0 assists over his last eight games.