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Shams Charania And Lou Williams Share Insights About Jayson Tatum And Jaylen Brown's Relationship
Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Much has been made about the dynamic between Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown . But according to The Atletic's Shams Charania, there's no reason to think that the two are not on the same page right now.

"In the 2021-22 season, the media was asking Jayson Tatum if he still wanted to play with Jaylen Brown. 'Do you still want to be teammates with him?' And I think that was a point where there was a lot of conversation -- can these two guys win, can they get to the Finals, can they win the championship together? And Jayson Tatum said publicly, 'I want him here, I want to play with him. We know what we've done, Conference Finals every year... but even privately, he told people around that organization 'I want Jaylen Brown here.'"

Tatum, 26, is a 5x All-Star and 4x All-NBA player with averages of 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game on 47.1% shooting this season. Jaylen Brown, meanwhile, has solidified himself as one of the top 20 best players in the game with season averages of 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game on 49.9% shooting.

The media has tried to drive a wedge between Tatum and Brown ever since they first joined forces but the truth is that they are actually pretty tight. Contrary to popular belief, they hang out quite frequently in their off days and have developed a close bond after spending years as co-stars.

"I'll open the curtain up," said former NBA veteran Lou Williams. "They actually do hang out. I've been a person who has been with them on several occasions. but they are both very private men. They don't love these lives where cameras are following them everywhere, they are very private man but I've seen them on a number of occasions hanging out, being friends."

On the court, the fit of Tatum and Brown has been questioned many times before and the conversation always comes back after their worst losses. For a while, both players were involved in trade rumors constantly and Brown especially was on trade watch leading up to his most recent extension.

But now, with the Celtics set to pay Brown and Tatum a combined $613 million over the foreseeable future, there's no going back on this duo and they have to ride this out to the very end.

The Boston Celtics Are Dominating The East

Perhaps the biggest argument for keeping Jaylen and Jayson together is simply their effectiveness on the court. While they have yet to win the championship, they've been a top-four team in the majority of their time together and have already made the Conference Finals five times.

This year, after easily handling the Heat and Cavaliers, the Celtics find themselves up 2-0 against a 6th-seeded Pacers team without Tyrese Haliburton. With the odds clearly in their favor, the Celtics have barely been challenged in the 2024 postseason and it remains to be seen how it will affect them in the next series.

Regardless, the Celtics have dominated the Eastern Conference and it's been a familiar trend over the past few season. Now, just two years removed from their Finals appearance in 2022, the Celtics are on a mission to finish the job and finally bring the Larry O'Brien trophy back to Boston.

No matter what happens in this post-season, the Celtics aren't going to split this up now. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown want to play together and there's no reason to think they can't do great things together before it's all said and done.

This article first appeared on Fadeaway World and was syndicated with permission.

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