{"id":804669,"date":"2026-07-16T20:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804669\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:33:12","slug":"jayson-tatum-its-weird-not-having-jaylen-brown-on-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804669\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayson Tatum: It’s ‘weird’ not having Jaylen Brown on Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“You feel those emotions. The city feels those emotions,” Tatum said.<\/p>\n

\"Jayson
\n\tJayson Tatum at The ESPYs Photo by Mike Coppola\/Getty Images\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Jaylen\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJayson Tatum breaks silence on Jaylen Brown trade: \u2018It\u2019s tough\u2019\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Nine amazing years\u2019: Jayson Tatum on his relationship with Jaylen Brown\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

For nearly a decade<\/a>, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown worked together towards the goal of bringing a championship to Boston. <\/p>\n

Now that Brown has been traded<\/a> to the 76ers, they\u2019re division rivals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been two weeks since the trade was announced, but it still feels strange to know that Brown will be an opponent next season, Tatum said during an appearance for ESPN\u2019s preview show of the ESPY Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m being transparent, it\u2019s weird,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI\u2019ve been on the Celtics for nine years and he was my teammate for every single one of those.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou understand throughout the course of a career that the NBA is a business and people change teams and change coaches and front offices,\u201d he added. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t make it any easier. There\u2019s still a human element of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the trade, Brown said<\/a> he was both excited and disappointed. He said he needed time to process the shocking move. Boston traded him to Philadelphia for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks.<\/p>\n

The Celtics blew a 3-1 lead against the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs back in May. They were also Boston\u2019s opening night opponent last season. They\u2019ve met more times than any other pair of teams in NBA playoff history. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what it\u2019s going to feel like,\u201d Brown later said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably going to feel a bit weird, you know what I mean? It\u2019s still weird now, like my brain is like Philly? Of all places? Why would you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The trade sparked an emotional response from Celtics fans. Tributes were made on social media. Arguments were had about the merits and drawbacks of the trade. <\/p>\n

One young fan, six-year old Giovanni Jean, went viral<\/a> when his mother uploaded his tearful reaction to the trade on Instagram. Brown invited Jean to his Bridge Boston program last week and comforted him with a hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel those emotions. The city feels those emotions,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a side of \u2014 we have to welcome our new teammates with open arms and we have to attack the new season. So there\u2019s like a balance, but it\u2019s weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics went 3-1 during summer league. Both Brown and Tatum made appearances in Las Vegas. Tatum was there supporting his former Duke teammate Amile Jefferson, who coached the Celtics summer league team. Brown was watching his new team. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “You feel those emotions. The city feels those emotions,” Tatum said. Jayson Tatum at The ESPYs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-804669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}