The Boston Celtics have been busy this offseason, with their decision to break up their longtime duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown registering as one of the most surprising moves in recent NBA history. Brown was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in a blockbuster trade, bringing an end to one of the most successful partnerships in the history of the franchise.
For much of their time in town, Tatum was the 1A to Brown’s 1B, but with Tatum missing most of the 2025-26 campaign, Brown proved that he is more than capable of being the main act on his own team. In fact, based on what both guys have accomplished so far in their respective careers, former first-round pick Lonzo Ball claimed that Brown is actually a better player than Tatum.
The C’s selected Brown with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, before taking Tatum with the same selection in the 2017 NBA Draft. As a result, these guys have spent virtually their entire careers together, and while they have accomplished different things on an individual level, they have often been tied together based on what they have won with the rest of their team in Boston.
Tatum and Brown led the Celtics to victory in the 2024 NBA Finals, with Brown winning Finals MVP for his efforts. And yet, it’s tough to argue with the fact that Tatum has a more impressive resume than Brown at this point in his career. Even with the 2025-26 campaign being a wash for him, he has one more All-Star selection than Brown, and his five All-NBA selections (four of which saw him land on the First Team) outnumber Brown’s two All-NBA honors.
The version of Brown we saw last season, though, indicated that, if given the opportunity, he could play at a similar level as Tatum. Joining a loaded Sixers squad, he won’t necessarily get the opportunity to do that now, but Ball is already convinced that Brown is one of the greatest players to ever suit up for Boston, going as far to say he is better than Tatum.
If you line up Boston’s best players ever, he’s in my top five,” Ball said on “Ball In The Family.” “The only two wings that is better than him is Paul Pierce and Larry Bird … I think Brown’s a little better (than Tatum).”
Is Jaylen Brown Actually Better Than Jayson Tatum?
Fans have long debated whether Tatum or Brown is better than the other, and that will surely only ramp up now that they are playing on different teams. Tatum still has some work to do to get himself back up to his All-NBA level in the wake of suffering a torn Achilles tendon that caused him to miss most of last season, but assuming he can do that, he should be able to prove Ball wrong here.
It’s also worth taking everything Ball said with a grain of salt, as he went on to claim that Brown would “fry” another Celtics legend, Larry Bird, which is simply inaccurate. Both Tatum and Brown are great, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason why the front office opted to trade Brown instead of Tatum this offseason.
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