After ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics were talking with the Nets about a possible Jaylen Brown-Kevin Durant swap, your first instinct might have been to wonder how Brown felt about his name being in trade rumors for what seems to be a seasonal tradition in his young career.
Then, you might have wondered what Durant thought of coming to Boston for the twilight of his career. Let’s not forget that given an opportunity to be in green back in 2016, KD chose the Warriors instead in free agency. Would he even want to be a Celtic now?
And outside of some of the peripheral players in the rumored trade packages — Marcus Smart and Derrick White have both been mentioned as possible ancillary pieces heading to Brooklyn — you might have also wondered what you thought about sending out a homegrown talent for one of the greatest players of this generation. With the Celtics already the betting favorite to win the championship next season, would the front office prefer a longer period of contention over arguably a wider short-term window?
And then of course, there’s Jayson Tatum.
At a premiere for Showtime’s Point Gods, Jayson Tatum addressed the reports and rumors circling the Celtics this week.
Asked about the numerous reports of a possible trade that could send out his teammate of five years to Brooklyn, Tatum said, “I don’t make anything of it. I just play basketball.”
When pressed further about being paired with Durant, he replied, “I played with him during the Olympics obviously. He’s a great player. But that’s not my decision. I love our team. I love the guys that we got. I don’t know if that report is true or not.”
Tatum went on to reference the additions of veterans Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari to a young team that went to the NBA Finals last season. He stressed that his job was to “play with his teammates” and that front office decisions were not his purview. He punctuated his point by saying, “I don’t believe everything I see on TV. I’ve seen some %&@# about me that was a lie. You never really know what’s true and what’s not true.”
And for what it’s worth, Paul Pierce was at the same premiere (so was Durant) and voiced his opinion on the rumored deal. “They not going to do that. They not going to do that. That ain’t happening,” the former Celtic and Hall of Famer said on Tuesday. “We don’t got to make no moves.”
