Jaylen Brown spent years in Boston as the high-end sidekick in a partnership that always tilted toward Jayson Tatum, even if nobody around the Celtics liked saying it out loud.
That’s what makes his latest comments in Philadelphia stand out. After just eight games with the 76ers, Brown had no trouble naming Tyrese Maxey as the player setting the tone.
“Maxey’s been leading the way, 100%. He’s been here; this is his team… I’m finding my footing, but Maxey’s been leading the way for sure.”
It’s a striking line, not because it’s wrong on its face, but because of who’s saying it. Brown was an All-NBA Second Team selection last season and finished sixth in MVP voting.
Maxey made the Third Team and wasn’t part of the MVP race. By the numbers and the résumé, Brown has every reason to speak like the alpha.
Instead, he’s openly handing the keys to Maxey.
That runs counter to how Brown’s Boston years felt from the outside. The Celtics were Tatum’s team, Tatum was the first option, and Brown never really seemed eager to publicly accept that hierarchy.
The dynamic between the two was positive, but it also carried a little tension, a little awkwardness, the kind that comes with two elite players sharing the same spotlight. For years, everyone around the Celtics talked about the Jays as if they were equal partners, even though the reality was different.
Now Brown is doing the exact opposite with Philadelphia.
That leaves two ways to read it. One is that the trade hit him hard, forced a reset, and made him look at his role differently. Maybe this is what a humbling experience sounds like when a star has to start over somewhere new.
The other possibility is a little sharper: Brown is taking a shot at Boston. He has already made it clear in other media comments that he’s still not over being traded and has some animosity toward the Celtics organization and Tatum specifically, for some reason.
Against that backdrop, this quote doesn’t feel accidental. Brown is smart, careful with his words, and he knows exactly how this lands.
Either way, it’s an odd twist. But if the goal in Philadelphia is to get everyone aligned around Maxey, Brown is at least saying the right thing. The Sixers have started fast, and if they’re going to hit their ceiling, they’ll need Brown and everybody else to fall in line behind the guy who’s already been there.
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Mitchell Robinson has become the bigger issue in the lineup math, because Bostons performance falls off when he is sharing the floor with Tatum. The on-court pairing has dragged down both the Celtics efficiency and Tatums own effectiveness, turning what should be a straightforward star-driven start into an early roster problem. For a team with championship expectations, the concern is less about Tatums form than about whether the current combinations around him are helping or quietly making the chase harder. [Read more 🡒]
Jayson Tatum Just Put His Finger On Bostons Early Problem
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Boston brought in Mitchell Robinson to help solve some of those issues, yet the rebounding picture has not settled the way the club hoped. Robinsons impact on the offensive boards has trended down, and the Celtics have also been lagging near the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding percentage, leaving the team with an early-season concern that could keep showing up until it gets fixed. [Read more 🡒]