Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are in agreement: there's no beef between the former Boston Celtics teammates. But there might be something, judging from Brown's latest comments.
A back-and-forth that began when Brown called cap in an Instagram comment on Tatum's claim he didn't know about his longtime teammate's trade to the Philadelphia 76ers saw the ball land back in Brown's court on Saturday.
Following the Sixers' 127-116 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Brown was asked about Tatum's comments the previous night, specifically "This ain't no f***ing Shaq and Kobe. There's no beef."
Brown responded by pointing out that Tatum has a great public relations team, then invoked a different type of meat to describe their relationship:
"We've accomplished some great things. He's a hell of a basketball player. He's got a great PR team. There's no beef but it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy. He should stay ready at all times."
What does that mean? A reporter asked the natural follow-up question and got this:
"That's what it is. No beef. It should never, ever be that. It's just basketball. We both blessed. But it might be a little lamb chop. We'll be alright."
When asked if he was willing to have a conversation with Tatum, Brown threw out the great PR team line for a second time and the lamb chop line for a third time:
"We both got so much stuff in front of us. At the end of the day, you gotta do what you gotta do for his team. I gotta do what I do for my team. Jayson's a great guy. Like I said, great family. Hell of a basketball player, hell of a PR team. There's no beef. A little lamb chop."
So that's that, we guess, unless Tatum wants to get back into a conversation he very clearly wishes wasn't public, as he said Friday:
"It's turned into this drama type of thing. I got two kids. I reached out to him the day he got traded, I called him, I texted him and I understand people process things differently. At this point in our lives, we're too old to be having our relationship discussed X, Y, Z on the internet. If there's a conversation to be had, we can definitely have that conversation. I welcome that.
I've always wanted the best for him and wished the best for him. I've always publicly said those things. I see all these things, 'Get your popcorn ready,' like it's a f***ing boxing match. I play basketball."
The trade that sent Brown to Philadelphia remains a contentious one. Brown clearly wasn't happy he was being shown the door after a season in which he was the Celtics' clear MVP, while Tatum distanced himself from the decision and said the situation was tough.
The pair played nine seasons together and won a championship in 2024, but the Brown trade had an air of inevitability. There were always questions about whether the Celtics wanted to carry two wings on supermax contracts in the long term, especially as Brown got older and the team failed to reach the Eastern Conference finals in back-to-back seasons.
Ideally, the franchise would have received something like Giannis Antetokounmpo in return for a former Finals MVP, but that's not how it worked out. All that can be done now is to circle the calendar for these teams' first meeting, as the Celtics are scheduled to host the Sixers on Nov. 10.