BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum should have been breaking down the nuances of his 36-point performance in Celtics’ 107-103 win over the defending champion New York Knicks.
Instead he spent most of his postgame news conference on Friday night addressing Jaylen Brown’s social media response that took issue with Tatum saying in a video on his YouTube channel that he was “just as much caught off guard as the rest of the world” by Brown’s trade to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer.
Brown responded on his Instagram account with a baseball cap emoji. “Cap” is slang for something that is not true. Asked if he had any response, Tatum sighed before expressing his frustrations with the entire situation for several minutes.
“I don’t have any animosity or beef, or ill will towards him. I think the toughest part is since he’s not on the Celtics anymore, the narrative or the conversations haven’t been enough about what we accomplished — all the games we won, winning a championship, how we’ve grown together. It’s turned into this drama type of thing.”
Tatum said while he understands there is an entertainment aspect to professional sports and that speculation about their off-court relationship is part of that, he was exasperated with how everything has lingered in recent months.
“I’m not blaming anybody for how they feel,” Tatum said. “We all go through different things in our lives. … People play this game and never got the finals. We did it twice and won a championship. It should be more about that. This ain’t no Shaq and Kobe. There’s no beef.”
Both players have spoken glowingly at times about how they grew and thrived together during their nine years together as teammates.
But it’s morphed into something else since the Celtics chose Tatum as the player they want to build around after trading Brown in what amounted to a move to cut one of the two players with $300 million contracts from the payroll.
“It’s turned into this drama type of thing,” Tatum said. “I’ve got two kids. I reached out the day he got traded. I called, I texted. And I understand, people process things differently. So, for me at this point in our lives, we are too old to be having our relationship discussed and X, Y and Z on the internet. There’s a conversation to be had and we can definitely have that conversation. I welcome that, right?
“I’ve always wanted the best for him and wished the best for him. I’ve always publicly said those things.”
Tatum also lamented how social media has fueled it.
“I’ve seen all these things like, ‘Get your popcorn ready when they play.’ This ain’t no (expletive) boxing match. Play basketball. There’s no animosity. There’s no beef. I just hate the way the conversation and narrative around it inflamed it. There’s not enough communication. I think conversation would solve and put out a lot of fires.”
Tatum also doesn’t believe the conversation — if there is one — would be negative.
“He’s just turned 30. I’m 28. I’ve got two kids. As adults, it’s a conversation. I’m not saying it’s a bad one or anything like that. Just communication usually gets to right (or) wrong, you’ll understand the other side.”
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