Since his costar on the wing was traded by the Boston Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and draft assets at the start of July, Jayson Tatum has mostly been quiet about the move. But at a recent ESPYs appearance, the St. Louis native shared how it has been not to have Brown on the roster for the first time in his NBA career.
“To be transparent, it’s weird,” said the Duke alum (h/t BasketballNews). “I’ve been on the Celtics for nine years, and he was my teammate. You understand throughout the course of your career that the NBA is a business, and people change teams … but it doesn’t make it any easier”.
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“But there’s also a side of … you have to welcome our new teammates,” added the Duke alum, referring to the arrival of George to the team via the trade.
Jul 15, 2026; New York, NY, USA; Jayson Tatum arrives on the red carpet before the 2026 ESPY Awards at Lincoln Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“I have nothing, obviously, but love and respect for JB,” said Tatum. “It’s tough when you are a professional athlete, and everything we do is publicized and nitpicked. And it’s been like that. We played together for nine years. There was a period in our career when we hadn’t won a championship yet. But in retrospect, we were only 23 and 21 years old.”
“The expectations were so high, and they had to figure out a reason why we hadn’t won yet. They tried to put us against each other, one guy shouldn’t be here or whatever. The truth is we had nine amazing years together, went to the finals twice, we won a championship. I’ll forever be grateful for those memories and the time we spent together.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: It’s weird: Jayson Tatum on the Jaylen Brown-less Boston Celtics
