Jayson Tatum ‘brags about’ how good Jaylen Brown is in private, according to his trainer
"Any narrative that they didn’t like each other, that they can’t win together is totally made up."
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been subjects of scrutiny for years — two young Celtics star wings who struggled at times to figure out how to win together early in their careers.
Those tensions reached a fever pitch last year as the team scuffled to a sub-.500 record over the first 40 games, but the air went out of the trade-rumor balloon when the team turned its season around in the second half and stormed to the No. 2 seed and an appearance in the NBA Finals.
Per Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, Tatum and Brown are on great terms now, no matter who you ask in their circles (and no matter how many assurances you offer of privacy).
“Jayson brags about how good Jaylen is,” Tatum’s trainer, Drew Hanlen, told Mannix. “How there aren’t many players he would trade straight up for him. Any narrative that they didn’t like each other, that they can’t win together is totally made up.”
Tatum side-stepped questions about Kevin Durant trade rumors this offseason, but he seemed to confirm Mannix’s reporting — he is happy playing alongside Brown and would like to continue to do so.
“I love our team,” Tatum said at the time. “I just go out there and play with my teammates. I don’t put that hat on to make decisions.
“I don’t believe everything I see on TV. I’ve seen some s— about me that was a lie. You never really know what is true and what’s not true.”
Tatum also talked to Mannix about the Finals, and how difficult it was to hear the Warriors celebrating on the TD Garden floor after their victory in Game 6. According to Hanlen, Tatum went dark for two weeks.
“I was exhausted,” Tatum told Mannix. “Didn’t feel like talking to anybody. Didn’t feel like being bothered. It’s hard to explain if you have never been in that situation. But losing a championship was f—ing miserable.”
Still, the good news for the Celtics is that their core is in place for the foreseeable future. Now the Celtics are back at it, reloaded around two young stars who have proven they can take a team all the way to the Finals but who still want more. As painful as the end of last season was for the Celtics, it hammered home the fact that Tatum and Brown can play — and win — together for the foreseeable future.
“You understand how tough it was to get to that point, and how much tougher it is to obviously win the whole thing,” Tatum told reporters at Media Day. “So take some time to reflect, rest, attack the summer with a plan of things you feel like you need to do to be the best version of yourself coming into next season and ultimately try to get over that hump this year.”
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