Jayson Tatum's True Disbelief Revealed After Celtics Trade Of Jaylen Brown
· Yahoo Sports
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Boston's "Two Jays" are now one.
Jaylen Brown is gone, traded to the 76ers. Jayson Tatum remains, ready for the 2026-27 NBA season after a year marred by his recovery from a torn Achilles.
It'll be different for Tatum, who has spent the majority of his career learning how to play alongside Brown.
Now, JB and JT will be rivals, and Tatum will have to learn the game of Paul George, who came back to Boston as part of the deal between the Celtics and Sixers.
Many fans will be wondering what Tatum thinks of all this, of course. Much has been made through the years of a potential rivalry between these teammates.
The reality is that they learned how to accomplish great things together, including winning a championship in 2024.
MORE: How LeBron James would fit Celtics roster
Jayson Tatum's feelings on Jaylen Brown trade
Tatum seems to have been shocked by this.
The superstar hasn't spoken publicly, but former NBA guard Jeff Teague said on a recent podcast episode that he talked to Tatum about this.
"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—?'"
Celtics fans can't love reading that.
The implication is that Tatum didn't necessarily see this coming, and that he may not have loved it.
On paper, the trade makes the Celtics worse for the season ahead. They have more future draft picks, but Brown to George is a downgrade.
Tatum, back to full health, wants to compete for a championship. And the shock in that take that Teague shared suggests Tatum knows as well as everyone else that the task just got harder.