Boston’s long-running “Two Jays” era is over, and Jayson Tatum’s reaction to the Jaylen Brown trade sounds every bit as stunned as Celtics fans felt when the news broke.
Brown is now gone, dealt to the 76ers, while Tatum is still in Boston and preparing for the 2026-27 NBA season after spending a year working back from a torn Achilles. The shift changes everything for a player who has spent most of his career figuring out how to function next to Brown. Now the two are set to become rivals, and Tatum will have to adjust to playing with Paul George, who returned to Boston as part of the Celtics-Sixers deal.
The trade naturally raised the question of what Tatum thought about it all. After years of talk about the dynamic between the two stars, the reality is that they built something real together, including the 2024 championship.
Tatum hasn’t spoken publicly about the move, but former NBA guard Jeff Teague said on a recent podcast that he spoke with him directly. Teague said Tatum was caught off guard.
"You know who's motivated, though? I talked to my boy yesterday," Teague said of Tatum.
"My boy JT is motivated. He was legit like, 'Damn, I can't believe that s- went down.
You know what I mean? That's some bulls-, really.
"They're like, 'Damn, he was shocked.' He was like, 'Damn, that's something weird.'
Asking us questions, you know what I mean? Like, ' Damn, y'all believe that s-?'"
That’s not exactly the kind of quote Celtics fans wanted to hear.
It suggests Tatum didn’t see the move coming and may not have been thrilled by it. And from a basketball standpoint, the deal looks like a step back for Boston in the short term. The Celtics did add more future draft picks, but swapping Brown for George is still a downgrade on paper.
Tatum is healthy again and wants to chase a championship. If Teague’s account is accurate, he understands what the rest of the league sees too: the road just got tougher.
In Other News...
Celtics Already Linked To Another Young Piece After Brown Shock
With Jaylen Brown no longer in the picture, Bostons roster questions are shifting fast, and the front office may not be done looking for young, versatile help. One of the clearest issues is at power forward, where the Celtics are thin enough that Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser are projected to absorb most of those minutes, with Paul George at the 4 also in the mix if the team chooses to go that route.
That has naturally pushed Boston toward the kind of multi-position, two-way pieces that can help stabilize the rotation without forcing a bigger overhaul. Around the league, there is already some belief the Celtics could explore options in that mold, but any real pursuit will depend on whether another team is willing to move a player it still sees as part of its long-term core. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Stevens May Have Quietly Solved A Celtics Problem Nobody Saw
Brad Stevens spent the offseason quietly reshaping the Celtics frontcourt, and the work may matter more than it first looked. Boston brought in Mitchell Robinson, then locked up Neemias Queta and Ron Harper Jr., giving the roster a different kind of depth around the basket without making the kind of splash that usually dominates summer headlines.
The appeal is in the cost as much as the fit. Steph Nohs salary model paints Queta as a major value on his new extension, while Harper Jr. landed a four-year deal that still leaves the Celtics with room to breathe. For a team always balancing talent with the cap, those moves could end up looking like one of the cleaner roster wins of the offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Jayson Tatum Finally Addressed The End Of The Two Jays
The end of the Two Jays era has landed hard in Boston, and Jayson Tatum has now spoken publicly about it for the first time. At an event tied to his children's book, Tatum acknowledged how difficult the change has been, offering the first real glimpse of how he is processing the breakup of the partnership that helped define the Celtics' rise.
Tatum and Jaylen Brown were the face of the franchise through two trips to the NBA Finals, and their run together reached its peak with the 2024 title, when Brown took home Finals MVP honors. Even with that shared history in the rearview, the emotional weight of what comes next is still settling in, and Tatum's comments only underline how much Boston's identity has shifted. [Read more 🡒]