Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were longtime teammates on the Boston Celtics, a run that ended this offseason with the blockbuster trade that sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tatum shot down talk he and Brown were on the outs off the court.
“I think, for one, I have nothing obviously but love and respect for Jaylen,” Tatum said during a July 8 appearance on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle.
“It’s tough, when you’re a professional athlete and everything we do is publicized and nit-picked. And it’s been like that.”
While there had been chatter the two did not necessarily get along, Tatum said he and Brown, whose trade sent one young fan into hysterics, have a deep history that will always connect them, dating back to even before they won a title together in 2024.
“We played together for nine years. There was a period of our career where we hadn’t won a championship yet, but, in retrospect, we were only 23 and 21 years old,” he said. “So the expectations were so high and, so they just had to figure out a reason why we hadn’t won yet.”
“They tried to pin us against each other and say one guy shouldn’t be here, but the truth is we had nine amazing years together. We went to the (NBA) Finals twice. We won a championship. So I’ll forever be grateful for those memories and the time that we spend together.”
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on April 28 in Boston.Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images
A six-time All-Star, Tatum has spent his entire career with the Celtics after the team selected him with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Brown was also the Celtics’ third overall pick, in the 2016 NBA Draft. A five-time All-Star, he was also the MVP of the 2024 NBA Finals, when he and Tatum brought Boston its 18th NBA title.
The pair also led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in 2022, where they fell to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
Prior to his appearance on TODAY, Tatum spoke to NBC News about whether he could have done more to keep Brown with the Celtics and how he learned about the trade.
“I was unaware,” Tatum said. “I kind of just saw the news like everyone else. It was just a shock.”