Jaylen Brown’s time with the Boston Celtics came to an end this offseason, as he was stunningly traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown has made it clear that he feels disrespected by the Celtics, and if we go by what he did on Instagram on Thursday, it appears he isn’t very happy with his former co-star, Jayson Tatum, either.
Former NBA player Vernon Maxwell criticized Tatum on The Right Time with Bomani Jones podcast for not telling the Celtics to keep Brown, and the five-time All-Star liked their post on Instagram.
Here is what Maxwell had to say.
“The thing I don’t like, though, if you f*** with me, Jayson Tatum,” Maxwell said. “Then you should’ve went into that motherf***ing front office and sat down with the motherf***ers, ‘Hey, let me tell you what. That’s my goddamn guy. Keep that motherf***er here.'”
Host Bomani Jones agreed, and he’s surprised more people aren’t talking about this.
“That’s the part I’m actually surprised hasn’t come up a little bit more,” Jones said. “Is that the Celtics had clearly decided that Jayson Tatum is the one, even if he’s coming off the Achilles tear, but he clearly did not jump in front of the bus on this one, right? Even if you don’t think that Tatum got him out of there, Tatum did not keep him there. And I think that there’s a story in that part.”
Now, the argument would have been that we don’t know what Tatum did or didn’t do behind the scenes. By liking that post, though, Brown appears to validate Maxwell and Jones’ comments.
What’s fascinating here is that Tatum has previously expressed regret over not speaking up when Brown’s name was in trade rumors. He shared that he never wanted to get involved in all that talk, but wished he had come out and told the world he did not want his co-star traded. Well, Tatum got another chance, and he still kept quiet. All of this adds more spice here.
It was former Celtic Kendrick Perkins who first spoke about Tatum and Brown not having a strong relationship off the court. A few weeks after that, the Celtics agreed to trade the 2024 Finals MVP to the 76ers for Paul George, a 2028 first-round pick, a 2031 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2030 second-round pick.
Tatum would put out a goodbye message for Brown a couple of days after the news broke, in which he expressed love and respect. LeBron James‘ friend, Cuffs The Legend, called him phony for that message, though. Cuffs claimed Tatum and Brown had ignored each other at a nightclub in Cannes, France, a week before the trade.
We then had ESPN’s Shams Charania report that Tatum and Brown’s personal relationship was close to nonexistent over the last year or so. All was well on the court, but they weren’t on great terms off it.
Tatum dismissed Charania’s report and maintained he had nothing but love and respect for Brown. Celtics icon Paul Pierce made it clear this is a non-story as well by pointing out that there were other great duos in the past who weren’t close friends off the court.
While that is true, Brown’s latest action definitely does raise eyebrows. It’s going to be must-watch television when these two get to play each other next season.
