We have seen various accounts of what Jayson Tatum's role was in the Jaylen Brown trade. Tatum says he didn't have a voice when the Boston Celtics made that decision, while Brown has gone on the record implying that Tatum is lying.
We don't know what happened behind the scenes. Only the Celtics do. Besides, former Celtics rival Isiah Thomas gave a fresh perspective on the situation. During his appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Thomas revealed that even if Tatum didn't approve, Boston would have made the decision.
"At the end of the day, the general manager, the owner, and the coach, when these type of decisions are made at a higher level, if Tatum would have said, 'No, don't trade Jaylen.' Brad and the owner would have said, 'No, we're trading Jaylen.' Tatum, even if he was asked about it, he probably would have had no weight in the decision."
Regardless of how anyone feels about the situation (or Thomas, for that matter), he has extensive experience in the NBA as a player, a coach, and an executive, so he knows what he's talking about.
Tatum may have approved of the deal, or he may not have, but what Thomas says here rings true. It would not have mattered how he felt about the deal because the Celtics were trading Brown anyway. They had legitimate reasons, like cap flexibility and not wanting to extend Brown.
It proves that in situations like those, there's not much Tatum really can do.
This has been a thing even before Brad Stevens or Jayson Tatum came in
Teams make decisions that have upset their star players. This is not foreign to the NBA, and anyone who suggests otherwise either is being disingenuous or simply isn't paying attention. The Celtics have done this before, and it has rubbed their stars the wrong way, thus indicating they had no say in it.
As ridiculous as it sounds now, when Boston traded Kendrick Perkins, their star players - namely Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce - it was considered quite heartbreaking because they loved Perkins like a brother. But guess what? Danny Ainge made a call he thought was best for the team, not caring how they felt in the slightest.
Stevens has shown that he is basically cut from the same cloth as Ainge. He doesn't care about sentiment when he makes decisions because he wants Boston to win. Tatum probably does too, which is why, regardless of whether he approved of the deal or not, his best foot forward was simply to check the ball.
Besides, it's taken like no time at all for George to prove that Stevens made the right call.
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