NBA Insider Casts Doubt on Relationship Between Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown

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The Boston Celtics quelled months, borderline years, of speculation when they executed a trade that sent small forward/shooting guard Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The trade ended a decade-long tenure in Boston for Brown. During that time, he was named to the All-Star Game five times, was second-team All-NBA twice and won the NBA Finals and NBA Finals MVP in 2024 with the Celtics.

Throughout the entirety of his tenure, Brown was seen as a tandem player to franchise superstar Jayson Tatum, who was picked in the first round a year after Brown.

Tatum missed most of this past season recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. In his stead, Brown posted arguably the best season of his career and finished sixth in MVP voting.

There's a lot to like about what Jaylen Brown provides defensively throughout a game. Down the stretch against vs CHA:

1. Contains drive after slip; result is tough jumper.
2. Contests jumper on switch.
3. Draws charge on rim-roll.
4. Tight contest on pull-up without fouling. pic.twitter.com/khaNIDYR4d

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) February 3, 2022

Despite Brown's reputation as a dependable No. 2 and him keeping Boston in Eastern Conference contention for most of the year, Brown was the subject of trade speculation for the latter half of his tenure with the Celtics and his relationship with Tatum remained the subject of discussion.

In a recent appearance on SirusXM, ESPN insider Shams Charania described Brown and Tatum's relationship as "nearly nonexistent" over the last "year or so."

Shams Charania reveals that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s personal relationship off the court was “as close to non-existent as you could have” over the last year.

"It is a tale of two different people." pic.twitter.com/HfHObUV4Su

— NBABase (@TheNBABase) July 7, 2026

The comment made by the NBA insider immediately drew pushback from an NBA veteran and current "No Fouls Given" podcast host Danny Green.

In a recent episode of his own podcast, Green pointed out that Tatum was rehabbing from most of last season, which likely limited the active relationship between the two former teammates. He also pointed toward the familial responsibilities of Tatum as another reason why Tatum wasn't actively with the team on top of his rehabilitation.

The episode of the podcast in which Green gave those comments can be found here:

Regardless of the reasoning for Brown's trade, or the relationship between him and Tatum, the deal disrupts one of the best duos in the NBA.

Tatum, who returned in March from his Achilles tendon and played in 16 regular season games, averaged 21.8 points on a 41.1% shooting clip from the floor in addition to 10 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Jayson Tatum & Chris Paul en workout depuis leur camp à Las Vegas pic.twitter.com/Fs42Yg7Paa

— NBA France (@NBAFRANCE) July 2, 2026

Brown, who played in 71 regular season games, averaged 28.7 points on 47.7% shooting from the floor in addition to 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and a steal per game.

Now Boston will hope that Tatum and George can find the same kind of synergy on the court that Tatum and Brown had, which led the Celtics to their first NBA title since 2008 in '24.

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