Jaylen Brown talks Jayson Tatum, toxic Boston Celtics fans with NYT

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown sat down with Sopan Dan of the New York Times (subscription required) where he opened himself up and he talked about various topics.

One of the questions was to describe his relationship with Jayson Tatum.

Here’s how he answered:

"You and Jayson Tatum have pretty much played your entire careers together at this point. How would you describe your relationship today?I would say the same as it’s always been. You know, two guys who work really hard, who care about winning. We come out and we are extremely competitive. People still probably don’t think it’ll work out.But, for the most part, it’s been rarefied air."

Analysts don’t want Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together on Boston Celtics

Last season the Boston Celtics’ record was 21-21 with 40 games left to play, and a lot of the outlets wanted the duo to split up. One of the talking heads with that opinion was Kendrick Perkins. Perkins went on First take to explain why it was time to break up the duo.

They were wrong and we all know what happen afterward. The Celtics turned the season around and they went all the way to the finals where they lost in game 6 to the Golden State Warriors.

Another question Sopan Dan asked Brown was what his experience was like being a black athlete in Boston.

"Other athletes have spoken about the negative way that fans have treated Black athletes while playing in Boston. Have you experienced any of that?I have, but I pretty much block it all out. It’s not the whole Celtic fan base, but it is a part of the fan base that exists within the Celtic nation that is problematic. If you have a bad game, they tie it to your personal character."

Brown also talks about a certain portion of the Boston Celtics fanbase.

"I definitely think there’s a group or an amount within the Celtic nation that is extremely toxic and does not want to see athletes use their platform, or they just want you to play basketball and entertain and go home. And that’s a problem to me."

Brown is an activist and he is going to use his platform to fight the social injustice that going on within his community. He knows that only a certain portion of the fanbase can be extremely toxic, and it’s not the entire fanbase.