Former Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker, who was an All-Star starter during the 2019-20 season before seeing his numbers drop in the seasons since, claims that he was the one who kept Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together through endless trade rumors.
While Brown was always the one more often linked in trade talks — ranging from Ben Simmons during his days in Philadelphia to non-stop Kevin Durant chatter this past summer — Tatum too was talked about in deals for Anthony Davis before ‘The Brown’ went Hollywood.
Walker, while speaking to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod, detailed how he kept the two focused on playing together. According to the 4x All-Star, the Boston Celtics wouldn’t be anywhere without the star pair — something that was proven when they were bounced from the 2021 postseason without Brown and then rode the duo to the 2022 NBA Finals ((h/t Conor Roche of Boston.com):
"“I remember me telling those guys, because they’ve always seen the talks and everybody saying they can’t play with each other, I always told them just block that out. I always told them, this organization isn’t going nowhere without you two, literally. My main thing to those guys was that they have to love each other. Jayson and Jaylen, you two guys have to come together as much as you can and lead this team to the promised land. They can’t go anywhere without those two guys.”"
The Boston Celtics are unlikely to trade Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown anymore
There was once upon a time when many thought the Boston Celtics peaked with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown during the former’s rookie season back in 2017-18 when they came within one game of the Finals and a likely demise at the hands of the Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors.
Funnily enough, it was making the 2022 Finals and suffering that same fate to a KD-less Warriors that is proof that the pair is likely to stick around until one of them demands a trade (unlikely) or Brown chooses a new home in 2024 free agency (more likely, but still not likely).
Questioning if the ‘Jays’ can play together is a several-year old argument, but don’t expect national outlets to continue doing so.