Getty Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown
Since becoming a duo in 2017 with the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been to four Eastern Conference Finals and an NBA Finals appearance against the Golden State Warriors. While talking with The Messenger’s Jeff Goodman, Tatum revealed their goals as a duo.
“I’m still 25, and he’ll be 27 in two months,” Tatum told Goodman in a September 7 story. “We’re far from perfect. We won’t ever get the credit we deserve until we actually win a championship. That is the ultimate goal, but you can’t bypass all the things we’ve accomplished in the six years we’ve been teammates at a very young age.”
Tatum added that he and Brown have grown as a pair of star teammates, acknowledging the criticism that’s been directed at them.
“We’ve been to the playoffs every single year. We’ve gotten better. Yes, it took some time to figure out how we can be as special as we can be and how we can co-exist and do it together. I know everybody says, ‘They take turns.’ I feel like we got to a place where we were feeding off each other, playing really well.”
Tatum and Brown have also never been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs when both have taken the floor.
Bleacher Report Makes Bold Jayson Tatum Prediction
With the rap sheet Tatum already has as a player, Bleacher Report’s Adam Fromal explained why he believes Tatum could ascend into becoming a top-5 player in the league for the next five years.
“Tatum is a phenomenal scoring talent capable of putting up points in a wide variety of fashions. Should he put together a high-volume season in which he cans his triples at over a 40 percent clip, a scoring title likely awaits. Plus, the Duke product has become increasingly comfortable shouldering high-volume scoring responsibilities while still involving his teammates and conserving the energy necessary to play effective defense.”
Tatum has already established himself as one of the NBA’s premier scorers, averaging 30.1 points a game, good for the sixth-highest scoring average for the 2022-23 season. Better yet, he is the only Celtic in franchise history to average 30 points over the course of a season, something Isaiah Thomas, Paul Pierce, John Havlicek, nor Larry Bird ever accomplished during their time in Boston.
Eastern Conference GM Shouts Out Jaylen Brown
While talking with Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett, an Eastern Conference GM praised Brown for his commitment to the Celtics and explained why his loyalty is important to the team.
“If Boston didn’t have the kind of team that could win now, you might have to think twice about what you offer a Jaylen Brown,” The GM said. “But from everything we’ve seen about him and know, he’s not the kind of person you have to worry about. It looks like he’s invested in the team and not just his stats. That’s more important than people realize when it comes to how a guy’s new contract sits with the rest of the guys in the room.”
Despite there being trade rumors tying Brown to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Kevin Durant in 2022, as reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Brown evidently did not harbor hard feelings toward the Celtics, having agreed to a contract extension this summer that will keep him on the payroll until 2029.