The Celtics’ new ownership group, led by Bill Chisholm, purchased the franchise for $6.1 billion last year, an NBA record at the time. A few months later, the Los Angeles Lakers sold for a staggering $10 billion valuation.

As the value of NBA franchises continues to skyrocket, Jaylen Brown believes players deserve the opportunity to own a piece of their team.

Brown, the Celtics’ longest-tenured and second-highest-paid player, advocated for player equity during a “Bloomberg Newsmakers” event Thursday night in downtown Boston.

“What I think needs to change … is I think players should be able to invest alongside ownership groups in business opportunities,” Brown said. “Like, I don’t understand why that’s ever been a thing, but it’s like, you’re an athlete, and they make it seem like they can control how much wealth or growth that you could actually accumulate. I think that’s wrong. I also think that, just like any other major corporation — like, if you work for Apple or you work for Nike, or if you’re a CEO or someone that’s been on a board for a large amount of time — you get equity in the company at some point. Like, you are a part of it. And I think athletes should be looked at in the same way.

“You play for the Celtics for 20 years, you should get a piece of equity, because you helped accumulate the growth. And that’s the part that gets lost in translation — the growth from an organization or growth from a company or corporation. The sweat equity that you put in. You get compensated for doing your job, but you don’t get compensated for the growth. And in major corporations and companies, you do, or at least some of the big ones. So that’s something that I would propose, and I have proposed, but we’ll see. We’ve got another CBA coming up.”

Asked whether he believes this concept is gaining traction among other players, Brown, who’s served as a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association since 2019, replied: “No.”

“I think the NBA shuts it down any chance they get,” he said. “I mean, when it comes down to it, it’s all about leverage, and as players, we’re still building our leverage, getting on the same page. So even if it’s the right idea, it’s the right thing to do, it won’t matter to the NBA unless we all come onto the same page. They’re not going to do it unless we tell them this is what we want.

“So from a player standpoint, we’ve just got to get more collectively on the same page, and I think the future is — the possibilities are endless. But nobody wants to pay anybody these days. Everybody wants to take as much of the piece of the pie as they possibly can, and that’s just how business in America and capitalism has worked. So until we can kind of get on the same page and formulate what we want, when we want it and how we want it to look, nothing will change.”

Brown acknowledged player equity is not at the top of the union’s list of priorities, but he said he “absolutely” will push for it during negotiations for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current CBA, ratified in 2023, runs through the 2029-30 season, with the option for either side to opt out after 2028-29.

“That’s something that’s definitely big that we would love to be able to accomplish in the future, for the next generation of our NBA players and our athletes being able to invest alongside ownership groups, especially in the development,” he said. “Because the results are already baked in. They already know there’s going to be people that are going to be in the seats. You already know the game schedule. You already know what your return is going to be. Players who are a part of that should be able to be included to some degree. … And I don’t think it should be rocket science, either.”

With the NBA considering adding new franchises in Las Vegas and/or Seattle, Brown said he’s also proposed a player-owned expansion team.

“I pitched in, like, 2022 that we should have an expansion team owned by the players,” he said. “I think it fell on deaf ears, but that is something I would like to see as they’re continuing to expand: an expansion team that would be owned, the BRI (basketball-related income) income would be split amongst maybe retired players, current players and maybe even WNBA, etc. This expansion team would be able to correct a lot of the frustration and divisional stuff that we talk about from a BRI standpoint, etc. — not being able to invest, not being able to be included when organizations get sold and things like that, the athletes who put in the work, the sweat equity.

“Having an expansion team owned by the players could be something interesting. I think that could be cool. Obviously, the union would have to put some parameters around some things, but I’ve brought that up a few times over the past few years. I just don’t think we’ve had the leverage enough to execute it, but things change over time. Maybe we circle back to it.”

That idea, Brown said, originated from Andre Iguodala, the former NBA star who now serves as executive director of the NBPA.

“I think that’s maybe something we should push for,” Brown said. “And now that he’s in the executive director position at the union, maybe that’s something in the next few years that we do push for.”

Brown, who signed a five-year, $285 million contract in 2023, is enjoying the best season of his 10-year NBA career, averaging 29.7 points, 6.4 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game while co-star Jayson Tatum recovers from Achilles surgery.