According to ESPN insider Sham Charania, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum last spoke in late June during a dinner in France, ESPN’s Kris Rhim reports. That conversation came after Boston’s attempt to land Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee fell through, with Brown serving as the main piece in the Celtics’ offer. Brown wanted to know how much Tatum knew about the talks, and Charania said the relationship between the two shifted after the 2024 Finals, when Brown won MVP.
Brown was moved to the Sixers not long after, and the teams are set to meet for the first time this regular season tonight.
Rhim also reported that Brown wanted to have a say in where he ended up, but the Celtics did not honor that request before sending him to a division rival. Brown had bristled at being cast as Tatum’s sidekick in Boston, but his tone has changed since arriving in Philadelphia.
“I’m the new guy here, so I’m adjusting,” Brown said. “I’m just trying to complement, build off of what these guys have already built here in Philadelphia.”
The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn added another layer to the breakup, writing that Boston’s growing concern over the pair’s on-court fit, along with Brown’s underwhelming analytical numbers, pushed the front office toward the move. In the Celtics’ view, the partnership had become a”relic” and no longer looked capable of producing another title.
Paul George, the biggest name Boston got back in the deal, said he holds no resentment toward the Sixers organization, according to Philadelphia beat writer Keith Pompey. “Yeah, had I been here, eight, nine, 10 years, different story.
I was here two years,” he said. “Obviously, we didn’t have the best of luck or had a great, I think, partnership in terms of my ability to stay healthy and on the floor.
So that kind of played into a lot of it. But obviously, it’s a tremendous fan base, a great sports town to play in.
So that was appreciated. But there’s no ill will for me.
It’ll be fun to just compete, and outside of that, it’s a normal game.”
Mike Conley also had a notable turn in Boston’s 20-point win over Milwaukee on Sunday, when Joe Mazzulla gave him the start. Conley played only 10 minutes, but the veteran said the move caught him off guard, per Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog.com.
Mazzulla had liked Conley’s defense in the previous game against Charlotte, and Tatum and Derrick White felt he should be rewarded. “They looked at me after the Charlotte game.
They’re like, ‘So you want to start next game?’” Conley said, who joined Boston on a one-year deal.
“I’m just like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It’s not really on my radar at the moment, so I thought they were joking, honestly.”
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