Jayson Tatum opens up about relationship with Jaylen Brown initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Boston
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s relationship on and off the court docket has been scrutinized since they grew to become Boston Celtics teammates in 2017.
Brown has gotten the brunt of the criticism over the past seven years. The 27-year-old was usually the topic of commerce rumors as pundits contemplated trades to separate up the Celtics’ celebrity duo, which fell simply wanting a championship a number of occasions earlier than lastly bringing house Banner 18 final month.
In a current sitdown with Chris Mannix of Sports activities Illustrated, Tatum admitted he regrets not talking up in help of Brown throughout these occasions.
“I’ve all the time instructed him that perhaps I may have performed a greater job of voicing my emotions within the public eye,” Tatum instructed Mannix. “He all the time knew that I wished him right here. I might all the time inform him like, ‘Man, I do not become involved with any of these talks.’ I by no means went to Brad (Stevens) or went to any participant like, ‘Yo, I would like this man in, I would like this man out of right here.’ I present up, and I need to do my job and play basketball.
“And searching again on in these moments, I did not know the way that would have an effect on anyone as a result of I used to be by no means in that state of affairs. I really feel like, perhaps, I may have performed a greater job of publicly saying, ‘No, we do not need anyone, we would like JB.’ I simply was all the time like, ‘I need to keep out of it.'”
Tatum and Brown’s relationship has continued to be unfairly scrutinized regardless of their profitable postseason run. After Brown was named Japanese Convention MVP, ESPN’s “Get Up!” spent a complete segement questioning whether or not Tatum was comfortable for his teammate. When Brown wasn’t named to Crew USA’s 2024 Paris Olympics roster, Tatum appeared uncomfortable answering questions on his omission.
Mannix joined Thursday’s Early Version to share extra perception on his sitdown with Tatum and what he took away from the dialog.
“(Tatum) all the time instructed (Brown) privately, ‘I’ve acquired your again,'” Mannix stated. “Folks round him have all the time stated to me, ‘Look, Jayson has no downside with Jaylen Brown. He needs to play with Jaylen Brown. He believes they will win with Jaylen Brown.’ However I feel generally these tales acquired some legs as a result of we did not hear loads from Jayson Tatum. He by no means criticized Jaylen Brown. He perhaps wasn’t as vocal as he may have been.
“These are usually not two guys which are fairly often gonna be photographed at Dave & Buster’s hanging out collectively. They’re completely different folks. They’ve all the time been completely different folks. However that does not imply that they cannot coexist as teammates and so they cannot thrive in that relationship as a result of we’ve seen them thrive in that relationship. And I feel this 12 months for Jaylen Brown the place he acquired his cash, he will make over $300 million when his new contract kicks in, that is a giant bag. And he acquired his accolades.
“And I feel Tatum, one factor we talked about was that he was comfortable that Jaylen Brown acquired the convention finals MVP as a result of he felt through the years Jaylen Brown sort of acquired the quick finish of the stick. He was usually missed within the shadow of the accomplishments that Jayson Tatum has had. Now, he is getting that recognition. The primary man I feel to be comfortable for him was Jayson Tatum.”
As Mannix mentions, Brown now not has something to show with a supermax contract, three All-Star nods, the convention finals MVP award and an NBA Finals MVP on his résumé. Nonetheless, there’s little doubt his All-NBA, All-Protection, and Crew USA snubs will put a chip on his shoulder for the 2024-25 marketing campaign.
That further motivation may work within the Celtics’ favor as they appear to develop into the primary NBA group to repeat as champs for the reason that Golden State Warriors (2017-18). They’re going to run it again with virtually the identical precise group that defeated the Dallas Mavericks within the 2024 Finals.
