Jaylen Brown insists there’s no beef between him and former Boston Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum, but his latest comments suggest there’s still some tension between the two.
Following the Philadelphia 76ers’ 127-116 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, Brown addressed his relationship with Tatum while taking a subtle shot at his former teammate’s public relations team.
“Jayson’s a great guy,” Brown said. “Like I said, great family, hell of a basketball player, hell of a PR team. There’s no beef, but it’ll be a little lamb chop.”
The comments come just days after Brown sparked speculation about their relationship by responding to a video on Tatum’s YouTube channel with a blue hat emoji, commonly used to suggest someone is lying.
In the video, Tatum claimed he was just as surprised as everyone else when Boston traded Brown to Philadelphia during the offseason.
Tatum addressed the situation on Friday, denying any issues between the former teammates.
“There’s no beef,” Tatum said, according to ESPN. “It’s not about that. It should be more praise.” “I understand drama gets clicks and views, but I’m not really into that. I’m not blaming everybody for how they feel. Everybody is entitled to their own feelings, and we all go through different things in our lives.”
Despite both players publicly denying any problems, Brown appeared less interested in discussing a potential reconciliation.
“We both got so much stuff in front of us,” Brown said. “So at the end of the day … he gotta do what he’s got to do for his team. I gotta do what I do for my team.”
The pair spent nine seasons together in Boston, reaching five Eastern Conference finals, two NBA Finals and winning the championship in 2024.
However, their partnership came to an unexpected end this offseason when the Celtics traded Brown to Philadelphia in exchange for Paul George and multiple draft picks.
Brown was coming off a career-best season in which he averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists while leading Boston to 56 wins.
Now on separate teams, the former championship-winning duo will meet for the first time on November 10, when Philadelphia hosts Boston.
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