Jayson Tatum, Joe Mazzulla respond to Brandon Jenningsâ âsoftestâ Celtic criticismÂ
"Jayson is an unbelievable player â a great player, one of the best Celtics of all time â and the facts speak for themselves."
Jayson Tatum helped lead the Celtics to an 18th championship in June before inking the largest contract in NBA history just a few weeks later.
But even with those accolades and his continued growth in 2024-25, the Celtics star is still not immune to some harsh criticism.
Former NBA point guard Brandon Jennings didn’t mince words during an appearance on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast last week when it came to Tatum and his standing among Celtics greats.
“Is he the softest Boston Celtics superstar ever?” Jennings said of Tatum while speaking with Arenas, adding: “What do we know about Boston Celtics players? Like anybody that put on a Boston Celtics jersey from the 80s on up. They what? They cutthroat right?
“If you’re so tough, why you didn’t get Finals MVP last year? Why you let your running mate (Jaylen Brown) do it? If you so tough. If you so all this. … Why you didn’t get it?”
It didn’t take long for Tatum’s camp to respond on social media to Jennings’ odd criticism, with his trainer, Drew Hanlen, calling out Jennings’ comments while comparing his stats with Tatum’s.
“I liked Brandon Jennings as a player but we gotta stop the [cap],” Hanlen posted on X. “His comment that Tatum is ‘soft’ is pathetic. A soft player couldn’t lead their team in points, rebounds & assists to a title.
“A soft player wouldn’t have 51 [points] in a G7 or 31/11/8 to win finals.”
Tatum himself offered up a bit more of a subdued retort to Jennings’ call-out on Wednesday — posting an Instagram of his own highlights with the caption “SoFtesT SuPeRstar in CeLtiC HiStoRy” with a laughing emoji.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also joined in on the retorts against Jennings on Thursday during his regular appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand”.
“First thought was, that’s when you use one of your coins,” Mazzulla said. “That’s a coin.”
Mazzulla’s comments are in reference to his comments on the radio station in October — when he discussed a scenario where everyone had five coins on hand to spend in order to fight a random stranger.
“What if we all walked around with like five coins, right? And at any point in time, you can just hand one out, and you just challenge a guy to like, combat,” Mazzulla said during that October interview. “If you do pull a coin on a guy and he beats you up, like, that’s your fault. You’ve got to either train harder, or pick and choose your coins better.”
Mazzulla eventually offered up a more rational take on Jennings’ comments and the criticism that Tatum still deals with at this stage of his NBA career.
“It’s unfortunate that him in particular, but (also) players in general, feel like they have to fight for that constant affirmation,” Mazzulla said. “So, the thing that I try to do the most is like, we don’t have to be affirmed by other people’s opinions.
“Jayson is an unbelievable player — a great player, one of the best Celtics of all time — and the facts speak for themselves.”
Jennings — a lottery pick in the 2009 NBA Draft — averaged 14.1 points per game over his nine-year NBA career. His final season in the NBA came in 2017-18, when both he and the Bucks were eliminated by Tatum and the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
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