Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum keep their distance early as Celtics visit 76ers for 1st time since trade
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jaylen Brown hit some jumpers on the Sixers' end of the court. Jayson Tatum warmed up on his side with his Celtics teammates.
Neither All-Star decided to shoot his shot with the other.
Brown and Tatum kept their distance during pregame warmups ahead of Tuesday's game when the Celtics played Philadelphia for the first time since the summer trade that saw Brown surprisingly switch sides.
Tatum tried to dap up Brown before the opening tip with a tap on the shoulder and thump on the chest that his former teammate ignored. Tatum shook hands and exchanged a big hug with LeBron James.
Brown and Tatum were long-time teammates who won an NBA championship together in Boston only for their frosty personal relationship to interfere with what had been one of the more dynamic 1-2 duos in the league.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Brown said Sunday in Chicago. “He’s on his side; I’m on my side. Both of us are trying to win. Nothing to talk about. Check the ball up.”
Neither player talked ahead of Tuesday's game.
The game was streamed on Peacock and the network gave the showdown all the hype on social media of an old school heavyweight fight.
“Jaylen Brown vs. Jayson Tatum. For the first time ever,” the post captioned over clips of both players from their time with the Celtics and into this season.
Brown got the better of Tatum early when he picked off his old teammate's pass and fed the ball to Tyrese Maxey for a 3-pointer.
Brown said last month there was “ no beef ” between himself and Tatum, even as the dissection over the end of their relationship had dragged into the season.
“There might be a little lamb chops and some gravy,” Brown said last month in response to a social media post. “He should stay ready at all times.”
The trade has been a success for both teams. The 76ers. with Brown and James aboard, are 9-2 and the Celtics have the second-best record in the East at 8-2.
“I think it'll be interesting,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said ahead of the game. “I would imagine that they've played some 1-on-1 against each other quite a bit over the last number of years, and I would imagine that will play itself out a little bit.”
Joe Mazzulla coached both players when they won the 2024 NBA championship. Brown was the 2024 NBA Finals MVP.
He was a five-time All-Star and wound up with career-best averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season while Tatum missed most of last season while recovering from an Achilles tendon tear that happened during the 2025 playoffs.
With both players healthy and carrying hefty salaries that would eventually swell to about 70% of Boston's salary cap, the franchise had to choose which player to keep. Boston chose Tatum.
Brown was traded to the rival 76ers in July for Paul George and draft picks.
“I think it's all something really interesting for all of us to be able to watch tonight and see how it goes,” Nurse said.
The 36-year-old George also made his return to Philadelphia after two flat seasons with the Sixers. George was poised to join Embiid and Maxey to form a Philly Big Three when he left the Clippers and signed a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract ahead of the 2024 season.
George instead was ravaged by knee and adductor injuries — among others — that robbed the nine-time All-Star of his full potential that he flashed in his three previous NBA stops.
He was suspended 25 games last season for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program. George returned for the final 10 games of the season and was a key contributor in helping the Sixers rally from 3-1 down to beat the Celtics in a first-round playoff series.
George was traded to Boston and he instead joined a list that included Jimmy Butler and James Harden of All-Star hired guns that failed to win a title with the Sixers.
George — whose 20.4 points entering the game is higher than either of his two seasons in Philadelphia — said at shootaround the game had no extra meaning.
“Had I been here eight, nine, 10 years, different story,” George said. “I was here two years. Obviously, we didn’t have the best of luck or had a great, I think, partnership in terms of my ability to stay healthy and on the floor. So that kind of played into a lot of it. It's a tremendous fan base. A great sports town to play in."
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