Jayson Tatum must show Celtics made right choice in picking him over Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum had better show why he has more commercials than his former teammate, Jaylen Brown, next season.

On Wednesday, the Celtics agreed to send guard/forward Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for forward Paul George and four draft picks (two firsts and two seconds). That’s all for the 2024 NBA Finals MVP? The disappointing return for a player of Brown’s caliber further underscores the Celtics’ belief they had no alternative after the duo failed to lead Boston to another championship over the past two seasons.

Why the Celtics felt Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown couldn’t coexist

“The biggest thing I look at is this, it’s very simple, even in talking to people in Boston, winning cures everything,” ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania said Thursday on “Get Up.” “The last two years, they simply didn’t get far enough to justify having two supermax contract players moving forward, that they already had questions about the fit on a personal level and also eventually on the court, where they did not have the levels of success they wanted to have.”

Charania added that the Celtics received offers for Tatum (entering the second year of a five-year, $313.9M contract), but they never considered trading him. Shouldn’t they have been more open to that?

Jaylen Brown looked like a true No. 1 for the Celtics toward end of his tenure

Brown averaged 23.9 points per game during the Celtics’ championship run. He signed a five-year, $285.3M contract extension shortly after Boston won the title. He earned his money this past season.

Brown finished sixth in league MVP voting after averaging a career-high 28.7 points per game during the regular season, leading the Celtics to a 56-26 record. Keep in mind, Tatum missed most of the season. The forward, who tore his right Achilles tendon in 2025, didn’t return to the lineup until March. He averaged 21.8 points per game in 16 regular-season contests.

Tatum remains the more accomplished player. In nine seasons with Boston, he has made six All-Star games and earned four first-team All-NBA nods. Brown, meanwhile, has made five All-Star Games and earned two second-team All-NBA nods.

Still, Brown may have a better trajectory than Tatum, considering their injury histories. Brown, who turns 30 on Oct. 24, has suffered knee and wrist tears but has never played in fewer than 57 games in his 10-year career.

The availability of Tatum, 28, may be a question for the rest of his career. It has already cost the Celtics in a big moment. This past season, he missed Game 7 of their first-round Eastern Conference Playoffs series against the 76ers due to left knee tightness. Philadelphia pulled off a 109-100 upset at the TD Garden.

Tatum has a higher career scoring average (23.5 PPG) than Brown (20 PPG), but he takes more shots. Brown is more efficient than Tatum in terms of career field-goal percentage and career effective field-goal percentage, which accounts for the fact that three-pointers are worth one more point than two-pointers. Take a look at the chart below

Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said Brown is Boston’s best player during the 2024 Finals, but the Celtics clearly disagree. They better be right. Otherwise, they’ll regret picking Tatum over Brown.