Getty Kevin Durant, Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
On July 25, talks of the Brooklyn Nets trading their franchise player Kevin Durant regained traction after the Boston Celtics’ offer for the two-time NBA Finals MVP was revealed by Shams Charania of “The Athletic”.
“The Celtics offered [Jaylen] Brown, guard Derrick White and a draft pick to the Nets for Durant, sources said. The proposal was rejected,“ Charania said. “Brooklyn has asked Boston — in any proposal — to include Brown, Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, draft picks, and potentially one more rotation player, those sources added.”
But despite Charania’s bombshell revelation about Boston’s trade offer, Celtics’ All-Star Jayson Tatum doesn’t think the news is worth putting stock into.
“I don’t think anything of it, I just play basketball,” Tatum said, per a video posted by The New York Post’s Jared Schwartz.
“I don’t believe everything I see on TV. I’ve seen some (expletive) on me that was a lie. You never really know what’s true or what’s not true.”
“I don’t believe everything I see on TV. I done seen some shit about me that was a lie.”
Jayson Tatum talks about the KD trade rumors 👀 (via @jschwartz115)
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Tatum on Durant Rumors: ‘I Love My Team’
Whether or not the Durant and Celtics talks are smoke and mirrors remains to be seen. But the prospect of Durant in Boston is intriguing. For one, the irony of Durant joining the Celtics after they swept the Nets in this year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals is marveling in itself.
In addition, the prospect of having Tatum and Durant, two of the best two-way players in the game, would be something to behold.
It was just last Summer that Durant and Tatum won Olympic gold in the Tokyo Olympics along with former Nets assistant Ime Udoka, who is now head coach of the Celtics. Still, even with all those factors involved, Tatum is satisfied with Boston’s current roster.
“I played with him during the Olympics. [Durant is] a great player. But that’s not my decision,” Tatum added. “I love my team. I love the guys that we got. I don’t know if that report is true or not.”
Tatum’s Dad Has Strong Response to Celtics Win Over Nets
The Nets were the only team to get swept in the 2022 playoffs. And it came at the hands of the Celtics. The Nets were a great warm-up series for the Boston because they were in a battle for the rest of the playoffs before ultimately falling to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Though Boston made quick work of the Nets, Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum’s dad says he expected a long series after the Game 1 thriller.
“When they ran through Brooklyn like that, I was saying the Celtics in 6 or 7 or something like that, especially after the miraculous shot Jayson made because I was like, ‘This is going to be a grind of a series…’ but that light just stayed on, and they just dominated,” Justin Tatum said in a recent interview with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Bally Sports.
“They knew that Brooklyn wasn’t a good defensive team, and they just had to slow down KD. And so, when they did that, and the rest of the boys stepped up, I was like, ‘We got something here…’ and it happened in Milwaukee, the same thing. That’s seven games that they went through. This team is relentless”
Should the Celtics pull off a deal for Durant? After giving the defending champion Warriors all they could handle in the NBA Finals, it may be worth running it back.
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