Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
NBA Trade Machine: Stephen Curry appeared in 8.9% of trades built on HoopsMatic over the past 24 hours. Of his trades, his most common destinations were San Antonio (30.5%), Boston (13.2%), and Philadelphia (10.6%). The players traded for him most often were De'Aaron Fox (25.2%), Keldon Johnson (15.9%), and Jayson Tatum (8.6%).
In speaking with some youngsters at a summer camp this week, Jayson Tatum delivered a message about how to be a leader. And in it, Tatum specifically said he doesn't want to be the smartest person in the room. This is what he said: "Being around somebody that feels like they know it all, I don't wanna be around that person. I don't wanna be the smartest person in the room, I want to learn from somebody else."
Grant Hill: 'Contrary to popular belief, I do like Jaylen Brown. I love his game, and things got difficult there with that team. In putting the team together, just to give some context, we had Kawhi Leonard on that penciled in on that team, and he got hurt at the end of that season in 2024. He came to camp, he wasn't right, and so we had to pivot. A couple of things happened at that camp, and people want to believe what they want to believe, but at the end of the day, Kevin Durant showed up, he was hurt. He had a grade one calf strain, and I think we all have PTSD from the last time he had a calf strain, so we were very patient with him. Jayson Tatum had just had a baby, so he showed up late. Joel Embiid was, you know, we knew we were managing him, but we needed him for Nikola Jokic against Serbia, because that was the matchup. We didn't have our full roster, and then we started looking around and saying, oh man, like Jrue Holiday was so important for us in the FIBA game. A point guard who can play his role, ball pressure, the whole nine. If Jrue got hurt, our point guards were Jrue Holiday and Stephen Curry, and defense wasn't necessarily their strong point. It was like, okay, let's bring in insurance for Jrue Holiday and like Derrick White. So that was the thought process.'
Jake Fischer: ‘I was told today that Bradley Beal’s decision is not exactly being held up by LeBron, but is being impacted by it. I do think there’s some Miami interest there, and I would not rule out Boston for Beal because of the connection with Jayson Tatum. (…) He could go back to the Clippers. (…) Beal is definitely going to be signed by a team with playoff aspirations, that is my understanding there.’
Advertisement
!["I'm hearing that in a lot of ways Jaylen [Brown] …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/883436.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
NBA on ESPN: "I'm hearing that in a lot of ways Jaylen [Brown] probably felt like Jayson [Tatum] was the favorite." @MarcJSpears on the Celtics' decision to part ways with Jaylen Brown 👀
Tatum recently made an appearance at ESPN's ESPY Awards on Wednesday. He was asked about how he feels about Brown getting traded and how he sees his future with his former duo no longer by his side. "To be transparent, it's weird," Tatum said. "I've been on the Celtics for nine years, and he was my teammate. You understand throughout the course of your career that the NBA is a business, and people change teams ... but it doesn't make it any easier ... But there's also a side of, like, you have to welcome our new teammates."
NBA Courtside: Draymond Green says it’s not a big deal that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown didn’t hangout off the court much: “That sh*t don’t matter. We all have different lives…. Does not mean they didn’t like each other. It simply means we don’t carry the same interests off the basketball court. None of you people who sit and judge hangout with every colleague that you work with. But for some reason when it comes to basketball players, if two guys don’t hangout, it’s a big issue?” (Via @DraymondShow)
The former NBA Finals MVP and five-time All-Star was shockingly traded to the Boston Celtics' division rival — and team that beat them in the playoffs — in a deal that featured multiple draft picks and Paul George going to the Celtics. Payton said the deal swings the shift in power to the Eastern Conference and makes the Sixers the top threat to the New York Knicks — who are the defending NBA Champs — for Eastern Conference supremacy. "Yes, that places them right there, especially with Tyrese Maxey," said Payton in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his new organic hemp rolling papers through the RAW brand. "We have to get him to be healthy. He's never been healthy, so you got to get him healthy. And then with that young guard that just came up, the one they just drafted last year, the rookie (V.J. Edgecombe) he is a very, very exciting basketball player. They have four players that can play, and in that East, all you need is to have four players to play. You've seen Philly, what they did this year in the playoffs, and they just ran out of steam. Now you add Jaylen Brown, who is going to be there, I think the whole season where he's going to play, it's going to make it a problem for a lot of people in the East, and that Philly team is going to be somebody to reckon with."
The trade featuring Brown wasn't shocking considering the Celtics had made him the main piece in talks with the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo. What was shocking was the fact that they traded him to an Eastern Conference rival for no young pieces in return, instead acquiring a 36-year-old George on a salary that earns him over $50 million. "I think the relationship just got out of hand," said Payton of why the Celtics abruptly traded Brown to the Sixers. "I think it was what it was, a relationship that couldn't be fixed, as you've seen it. It kept going and going in the media, and that relationship can't be fixed. You cannot keep talking about trading somebody and doing things, and then all of a sudden you come back and he comes back to your team, it's not going to be a good relationship. I think they did the right move, they had to make the move and do the moves they made."
Advertisement
"A lot of people are saying they didn't get enough, or whatever, but nowadays in this NBA, this is a business, they're trying to make their business become a better business, and without a lot of problems, and that's what they're doing," said Payton. "You're getting a lot of young kids now in these drafts that's coming up, so if you get four and five and six picks, you're gonna build around that, and that's what it is. You see how Oklahoma did it, they built around picks, you know what I'm saying, and they made a dynasty, they went out and got Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Clippers, and stuff like that. And then they built around him, and look what happened. They won a championship last year. They were hurt this year and they didn't go to the championship, but that's just the way things go.
There was a quote making the rounds that Jaylen Brown was the seventh-best player on the Celtics. Jaylen Brown grades out as the fifth most impactful player on the roster, behind Tatum, Queta, White, and Pritchard. But here's the context that matters: Brown also carried an enormous load. Last season, 35.2% of Boston's possessions ended in a Brown shot, free throw attempt, or turnover, one of the highest usage rates in the entire league. That usage cuts both ways. If Brown's role were reduced, his impact metrics could actually climb. Fewer possessions could mean better efficiency on offense and more energy to pour into his defense. So while I don't think any serious analytical person would call Brown the seventh-best Celtic, I do think it's fair to call him overvalued relative to his contract moving forward. And that's the real question the Celtics have to sit with: what is Brown producing in his current role, and what are they paying for it?
NBA Courtside: Jeff Teague on Shams Charania report on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown personal relationship: “Don’t nobody be cool with people like that on a team, bro. I’m going to tell y’all the truth don’t nobody hang with nobody for real, for real, like you might have a couple people that hang but people be work homeboys. I think about all the teammates I was cool with when I was on the team we done had some of them, “You want to do the pod?” They like Nah, I ain’t fu*k with you, I be like damn I used to what the fu*k, it just ain’t my homeboy.” (Via @club520podcast)
Eddie A Johnson: What people need to understand is this is not abnormal among athletes at a high level. Those two guys were as professional on the court as any two teammates i have ever observed! I had over 400 teammates and trust me i didnt like them all but i was their bro on the court!
