Jayson Tatum found out about the Jaylen Brown trade the same way you did

Jayson Tatum learned that Jaylen Brown had been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers by scrolling his phone. Same as the rest of us.

There was no heads up from Brad Stevens. No quiet phone call from ownership. Tatum said he wasn’t warned at all, per a recent interview with Tim Rohan of NBC News. He saw the news break online like any other fan and was completely shocked.

That’s a pretty wild way for a nine-year teammate to find out your running mate is gone. But it also tells you something about how the Celtics front office operates.

Tatum on whether he could have done more

The question came up: did Tatum feel like he could have done something to keep Brown in Boston? Maybe leaned on management or made some kind of last-minute pitch?

Tatum basically shrugged that off. He said players don’t really have that kind of pull in Boston, at least not during his time there.

“That might just be, like, an assumption,” Tatum told NBC News. “I think every team is different. I’m certain there might be some teams that players have a big voice and impact on roster, things like that. But it’s never been like that on my tenure with the Celtics. I’ve always said, Brad [Stevens] is the president and GM of the team. I play basketball. We’ve got two different roles.”

Pretty direct. Tatum plays. Stevens decides. That’s the division of labor.

What they were together

Tatum and Brown played nine seasons together in Boston, from 2017 to 2026. That’s a long time in the modern NBA, where duos tend to crack after a few years. They reached the Eastern Conference Finals five times and won the title in 2024. Brown took home Finals MVP that year.

For a while they were the league’s most feared two-way wing pairing. Both could create their own shot. Both could guard multiple positions. It worked. It really worked.

But lately there have been whispers that the relationship was fraying behind the scenes. Nothing dramatic enough to force a trade on its own, but enough that some people around the league weren’t totally shocked when the deal happened. The team has not confirmed any of that speculation, but the rumors are out there.

Now the Celtics move forward without Brown. Tatum goes from co-star to the guy. And he found out about it the same way everyone else did, while staring at a screen.