Jayson Tatum's return will resurrect idiotic & tired Celtics narrative

Well, Boston Celtics fans, the moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived: Jayson Tatum is back. Or at least, he will be. For as exciting as this is, Celtics fans should be wary that, with his return imminent, the ever-so-infamous "Can Tatum and Jaylen Brown co-exist" narrative will also return.

This has been a prominent narrative throughout the 2020s that Celtics fans are all too aware of and have been rolling their eyes at every time it gets brought up. Even more annoying is how the goal posts kept moving.

First, it was, "They're not good together," and then it was, "They're not good enough together." When Boston won the championship, no one could argue that anymore, but with Tatum returning from an Achilles tear, combined with Jaylen Brown's pitch-perfect job filling in as the team's alpha male, now we've seen the latest twist on the skepticism surrounding them.

Now, it's "can Tatum slide in now that it's Brown's team?"

The skeptics had the takes ready even before the Tatum announcement

Because there was a lot of speculation that Tatum's return was right around the corner, the hot takes were fired off even before the Celtics confirmed his comeback.

Former NBA player and Boston villain JR Smith set the standard by claiming the Celtics were always been Brown's team and that it's only the media who's tried to make it out like it's Tatum's team.

We don't even have to provide proof of why that's a dumb take, primarily because doing so only serves to divide the Jays. Keep in mind that Smith has an infamous history with Boston and is responsible for the absolute dumbest moment in NBA Finals history, for anyone who has forgotten.

To be fair, it didn't stop there, as Carmelo Anthony also publicly urged Tatum to sacrifice to make it work with Brown.

So... keep doing what he's been doing since the two paired up? It wasn't just former NBA players who were harping on this narrative. Even respected NBA Insiders like Chris Haynes brought it up.

Doubt has only fueled the Jays

Look, no one will know for sure what Tatum will look like nor how the Celtics will integrate him this late in the season, but his track record with Brown is pretty good evidence that it won't be that big of a problem.

It'd be pretty easy to foresee that Tatum will be rusty, as anyone would when coming off injury, but he, Brown, and the Celtics as a whole have known of the challenge ahead way before he was cleared to come back.

Those two have made media pundits look foolish for having these takes before, and their skepticism about how they'll fit together now will only fuel them to play better than ever.