Jaylen Brown doesn’t plan to speak to Jayson Tatum before playing Boston: ‘Just check the ball up’
Brown said there's "nothing to talk about" with his former teammate Tatum ahead of their first regular-season matchup on Tuesday.
CHICAGO — On one of his recent Twitch streams, Jaylen Brown compared his relationship with the Boston Celtics to that of an “ex.”
This hasn’t been a clean breakup, the kind in which two people avoid all contact and never see each other again. Instead, it’s the kind where they keep running into each other, with it being just a tad awkward every time.
The 76ers twice played the Celtics in the preseason and now, for the first time when it counts, they will play the Celtics again on Tuesday (8 p.m., NBC10, Peacock).
Since Brown saw them in the preseason, will that make it easier to see them again Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena?
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Brown said after scoring 29 points in the Sixers’ 127-121 win over the Bulls. “We’ll see how I feel when we get out there. But as of now, I got no emotion toward nothing. So I’m just ready to go.”
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Brown has made it known he felt the Celtics disrespected all he meant to the organization for the past 10 years. That included two NBA finals appearances and a title in 2024. There is also his fractured relationship with former Boston running mate Jayson Tatum, with some of Brown’s feelings toward Tatum spilling out into the public over the last few months.
When asked last month if he felt there was “beef” between the two, after Tatum denied any rift, Brown echoed that sentiment. But he added: “It might be a little lamb chops and gravy.”
Brown said he hasn’t spoken to Tatum, nor does he plan to when he sees Tatum in Philadelphia.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Brown said. “I mean, he’s on his side, I’m on my side, playing basketball. Both of us are trying to win, so it’s nothing to talk about. Just check the ball up.”
Tyrese Maxey, with a smile on his face, joked that he wasn’t expecting much from the home crowd with Boston in town.
“I expect it to be very quiet in the arena and not a lot of animosity,” Maxey said.
Even as Brown played his public comments close to the vest, it’s clear from what he has said since Boston traded him to Philly in July he feels some bad blood toward his former team. But where there’s anger, there’s also love. There’s love for the city of Boston, for whom he threw a block party after the trade. There’s love for a lot of his former teammates, whom he greeted after a home preseason game on Oct. 16.
“It should be fun. Never let a good opportunity [pass] for our team to be able to show what we’re made of,” Brown said. “So I’m looking forward to a big-time matchup, two heavyweights in the East. Let’s get it.”
Ever since Brown arrived in Philadelphia, he has spoken of still adjusting to life after Boston. That the jolt it gave to his family, his life and his new surroundings was going to take some time to process. At the start of training camp, he was still in the process of moving into a place and getting his family acclimated. From a non-basketball perspective, the last few months haven’t been easy.
“Decisions were made,” Brown said. “It’s life, it’s business. Move on. It’s OK. What goes into it, it’s emotions, you got to pack up and move your stuff. Your family got to pack up and move, but it’s life. It’s happened to numerous amount of people, myself included. So I just look forward to just being able to build with my team over here, trying to make the best of my situation.”
He has been doing that on the court with the Sixers as Brown again played a big part in a win. He was the team’s leading scorer on 11-for-22 shooting while adding seven rebounds and four assists on Sunday. The team is still figuring out how best to utilize Brown offensively. He has taken to cutting as a way to free himself and the offense when Joel Embiid has the ball in the midrange.
Brown is still a top-level isolation scorer and can take over a possession that bogs down by creating for himself, especially in the same midrange and elbow area of the floor near the free-throw line in which Embiid likes to operate.
“I think we’re still trying to learn exactly what the rhythm is to that,” coach Nick Nurse said.
But they are 9-2 while adjusting to life with each. Maxey said at the start of training camp that it was strange to have Brown as a teammate after several years of facing him across multiple playoff series. After being his teammate for 11 games, Maxey said he has appreciated how “focused” Brown is.
“It’s just his drive and you want to get better every single day,” Maxey said. “You see his attention to detail and you just appreciate that. That’s something that we really needed. And then he’s good. We like having him on our team instead of guarding him all the time.”
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With that, Maxey yelled across the Bulls visiting locker room to Brown.
“He pushes off,” Maxey said. “You push off and you knock us down, you get offensive fouls.”
The sight of Brown in Sixers red, white and blue squaring off his former teammates in Celtics green is going to take some getting used to for fans of both teams and the players involved. All part of the extended breakup, a dynamic that will never be the same. Even if at some point everyone mends fences, it might not totally mend Brown’s heart.
“I love Boston. Boston’s a great city,” Brown said. “A lot of people I developed a relationship with, you know what I mean? But I’m just focused on what’s in front of me right now, and that’s the most important thing.”
