Jaylen Brown, the 26-year-old Boston Celtics forward who by all indications appears to be Muslim, made basketball history last month.

Coming off a career-best season, Brown signed a five-year, $304 million contract extension that is currently the richest deal in NBA history in terms of total salary. In 2022-23, the 6-foot-6 Atlanta native and University of California-Berkeley product posted career highs of 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He was voted into the NBA All-Star Game and to the All-NBA Second Team while helping the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference finals. Boston came one win short of making its second straight NBA Finals appearance.

During the playoffs in 2022, Brown revealed that he was fasting for Ramadan, which was reportedly not his first time observing the Islamic holy month. He has not explicitly said publicly that he is Muslim, but Brown recently used the Arabic word “dua” when talking about praying, and he’s visited mosques and worn a thobe.

After signing his new contract, Brown spoke about some of his plans to give back and help his community.

“I want to launch a project to bring Black Wall Street to Boston and help bridge the wealth gap,” he told reporters. “Here, the wealth disparity is top-five every single year I’ve been in Boston and nobody really talks about it. I definitely want to put some projects together and I think it will stimulate the entire economy and bring everyone up at the same time.”