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Jayson Tatum Gets Candid about Relationship with Jaylen Brown: 'Could Have Done a Better Job'
The latter came on the heels of Brown leading Boston in scoring in the 2022 NBA Finals. Later that offseason, Tatum worked out with Durant, prompting the other half of the Celtics' star duo to organize a conference call with Tatum and the franchise's president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens.
"(Kevin Durant) and (Jayson Tatum) are friends," Brown told Logan Murdock of The Ringer. "They was working out together and whatnot. So, I wasn't sure what the energy was. I wasn't sure what the direction of the organization was."
Regarding the message he delivered to Brown on that phone call, Tatum later shared: "Without him, we can't reach our goals. You guys know that. The world knows that. The team knows that. We need him to be the best version of ourselves."
But in an interview with Chris Mannix, Tatum, who graces the cover of Sports Illustrated's 70th-anniversary issue, acknowledged that there are times he could have done a better job publicly combatting rumors about Boston trading Brown to pair the former Duke Blue Devil with a different star teammate.
"I've always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye," said Tatum. "He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, 'Man, I don't get involved with any of those talks.' I never went to Brad or went to any player like, 'Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.' I show up, and I want to do my job and play basketball.
"And looking back on in those moments, I didn't know how that could affect somebody because I was never in that situation. I feel like, maybe, I could have done a better job of publicly saying, 'No, we don't want anybody, we want JB.' I just was always like, 'I want to stay out of it.'"
And while Tatum led the Celtics in points (22.2), rebounds (7.8), and assists (7.2) in the NBA Finals, he shared with Mannix that seeing Brown receive the Bill Russell MVP Trophy "made me genuinely happy."
"I feel like he has gotten a short end of the stick, whether it's All-Star selections or All-NBA," expressed Tatum. "I feel like he, in a sense, made up for some of those shortcomings that people didn't vote him for. I was happy that he got it."
"We did all the things that they said we could not do," stated Tatum. "(I'll) forever be grateful for him."
This was beautiful
@JoelB is somewhere reading this like
The latter came on the heels of Brown leading Boston in scoring in the 2022 NBA Finals. Later that offseason, Tatum worked out with Durant, prompting the other half of the Celtics' star duo to organize a conference call with Tatum and the franchise's president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens.
"(Kevin Durant) and (Jayson Tatum) are friends," Brown told Logan Murdock of The Ringer. "They was working out together and whatnot. So, I wasn't sure what the energy was. I wasn't sure what the direction of the organization was."
Regarding the message he delivered to Brown on that phone call, Tatum later shared: "Without him, we can't reach our goals. You guys know that. The world knows that. The team knows that. We need him to be the best version of ourselves."
But in an interview with Chris Mannix, Tatum, who graces the cover of Sports Illustrated's 70th-anniversary issue, acknowledged that there are times he could have done a better job publicly combatting rumors about Boston trading Brown to pair the former Duke Blue Devil with a different star teammate.
"I've always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye," said Tatum. "He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, 'Man, I don't get involved with any of those talks.' I never went to Brad or went to any player like, 'Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.' I show up, and I want to do my job and play basketball.
"And looking back on in those moments, I didn't know how that could affect somebody because I was never in that situation. I feel like, maybe, I could have done a better job of publicly saying, 'No, we don't want anybody, we want JB.' I just was always like, 'I want to stay out of it.'"
And while Tatum led the Celtics in points (22.2), rebounds (7.8), and assists (7.2) in the NBA Finals, he shared with Mannix that seeing Brown receive the Bill Russell MVP Trophy "made me genuinely happy."
"I feel like he has gotten a short end of the stick, whether it's All-Star selections or All-NBA," expressed Tatum. "I feel like he, in a sense, made up for some of those shortcomings that people didn't vote him for. I was happy that he got it."
"We did all the things that they said we could not do," stated Tatum. "(I'll) forever be grateful for him."
This was beautiful
@JoelB is somewhere reading this like
The chip on his shoulder underdog mentality is one thing, but you'd think the game of life hates this man the way he moves. Went to a top tier public university, drafted top 3 overall, drafted to a top 5 NBA franchise, got the leeway to grow and fail as a player. What dark forces in the league are working to ruin your career? 
