Jayson Tatum Broke His Silence And Put Out A Late Night Instagram Story That Seemed To Not Only Support Jaylen Brown But Also Take Shots At The Media

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

I know I keep saying it with every one of these blogs, but it's true. The fact that we're dealing with nothing but Celtics rumors/off court drama/streams/IG likes/hot takes etc instead of actual playoff basketball is just so goddamn annoying. It's been forever since the team has lost the privilege of playing playoff basketball in early May, and when that happens, all you're left with is bullshit. It's beyond exhausting, and considering this is all self-inflicted, it makes it even more annoying. 

With each passing day, we see the Celtics lead every sports debate show, and today is no different. We're back to splitting up the Jays talk, trade Jaylen this, trade Jayson that, "sources" this and "sources" that, it's all the stuff that drives you insane as a fan, but you also understand why it's happening. This is the game. This is what happens when you are an overwhelming favorite and you collapse in horrific fashion. The sharks are going to come out, especially when it comes to this team and Tatum/Brown specifically. 

And to be fair, Jaylen Brown himself has given them plenty of ammo. From his stream comments to the back and forth with Stephen A yesterday

none of that helps. It also doesn't help that T-Mac, someone who we all know is close to Jaylen Brown is on his podcast putting out bullshit that only helps drive this wedge between the team's two best players. Even though Jaylen pretty much shut down all that stuff in his second stream, I'm not sure that matters. People will believe what they want to believe and will run with things that fit what they may want to be true. It's a losing battle.

Usually, when all of this stuff happens around this team getting a response from Jaylen is pretty standard. He's never been shy to speak his mind and call out the bullshit, so in some ways it's not surprising that he continues to speak up.

What we almost NEVER get is anything from Jayson Tatum. Not that he even has to in this situation because he hasn't done a goddamn thing outside of just play basketball, but that's exactly why this IG story seems pretty significant

I have to be honest, I can't ever remember a time in his entire career that Tatum ever ate the trash and threw his hat into the mix. People in his camp? Sure. But Tatum himself? No chance. 

And while we are now all left with analyzing a late night IG post, I think it's feasible to assume that this is Tatum doing his part to throw his support behind Jaylen Brown, but also maybe a little bit of his own gripes with how the media may be talking about his injury/Game 7 rest decision. It's hard not to think this is pointed directly at the media/ESPNs of the world, especially when we are actively hearing shit like this

To me, this doesn't come off as a situation where there's some beef between Tatum and Brown and all the fear mongering that some want you to believe. This feels more like complete support. Again, Tatum didn't have to do shit. It's not his responsibility to clear the air or to put out the flames that he in no way helped create. But he did. Maybe that's nothing, maybe that's something, but it's certainly different from what we've seen in prior instances of whenever the Tatum/Brown bullshit came up.

I guess my question would be this. Why would Tatum do something like this if there was some sort of tension or bad blood between the two players? Maybe he's just a nice guy, or maybe it's because there is no rift. Maybe he got sick of the narratives and assumptions that are being spoken about as fact. 

As a Celts fan, I can tell you I love to see it. When you underachieve and lose playoff series you shouldn't lose, it can be hard to resist the toxicity. We're all pissed, we're all annoyed with everything that happened in that Sixers series, and with that, emotions can run wild. But to me, even admitting there may be a decent amount of cope happening, this feels like one guy seeing what's going on with his brother and teammate and decided that enough was enough. Again, none of us know for sure, but it's certainly noticeable that Tatum finally broke his silence when it came to this stuff when previously it felt like he never got into the mud.