Jayson Tatum would like everyone to stop making a huge deal about his relationship with former teammate Jaylen Brown.
On Friday, the Boston Celtics star discovered himself once again discussing the commerce that despatched Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers and ended a nine-year partnership in Boston. Brown has made no secret about his displeasure over the commerce.
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That displeasure popped up in an Instagram remark part on Thursday evening, in response to a video of Tatum saying he was as stunned as anyone by the commerce. Brown’s remark of only a single emoji: cap.
In other phrases, Brown was accusing Tatum of mendacity.
That’s an awkward look, no matter how you cut it.
Tatum was requested about the remark after the Celtics’ 107-103 win over the New York Knicks on Friday and did his best to downplay the drama to reporters, going as far to invoke the notorious feud between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant once the Los Angeles Lakers traded the former:
“This ain’t no f***ing Shaq and Kobe. There’s no beef. It’s not about that. It should be more praise. I understand that don’t necessarily sell and drama gets clicks and views, but that’s not my thing.”
The Brown commerce, which netted Paul George and a assortment of draft picks for the Celtics, is uncommon in a few methods. Most uncommon is a contender sending a 30-year-old All-Star to an Eastern Conference rival. Brown had also just carried the Celtics for much of the 2025-26 season while Tatum was recovering from an Achilles rupture.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown performed almost their total careers collectively.
(Mitchell Leff via Getty Images)
Tatum and Brown won a championship collectively, but there were always questions about whether the Celtics needed to carry two wings on supermax contracts in the long time period, particularly as Brown got older. Tatum still described the divorce as painful at the time.
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On Friday, he tried explaining that he would not get pleasure from the drama in public, even if the remark from Brown’s account is what got this began:
“I understand we’re in the entertainment business. Me personally, I’m not much of an off-the-court entertainer type of guy. I don’t have any animosity or beef or ill will towards him and I think the frustrating part is since he’s not with the Celtics anymore, the narrative or conversations haven’t been enough about what we’ve accomplished, all the games we won, winning a championship, how we’ve grown together.
“It’s turned into this drama kind of factor. I got two youngsters. I reached out to him the day he got traded, I called him, I texted him and I perceive people course of issues otherwise. At this level in our lives, we’re too previous to be having our relationship mentioned X, Y, Z on the web. If there’s a dialog to be had, we can undoubtedly have that dialog. I welcome that. I’ve always needed the best for him and wished the best for him. I’ve always publicly said those issues. I see all these issues, ‘Get your popcorn prepared,’ like it’s a f***ing boxing match. I play basketball.”
The Celtics are now 1-1 after that win over the Knicks, while Brown’s Sixers are 2-0 following a thrilling comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With both groups set up as contenders in the East, this won’t be the last time we hear about this commerce and relationship.
There are less than three weeks left until their first direct conflict on the court, as the Celtics are scheduled to host the Sixers on Nov. 10.
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