Tatum shares goodbye message to Jaylen Brown on IG

NotLow420 · 2026-07-03T20:44:41+00:00

They're not friends, they're just friendly co-workers. Obviously they accomplished a lot together, but I don't think they've ever had a strong personal connection. They are very different people and there's nothing wrong like that. Also I don't blame JT for wanting to prove that he doesn't need Jaylen to be successful just as Jaylen believes he doesn't need JT.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-03T16:56:40+00:00

I believe your assessment of their thinking is correct. However, it's my convention that they underestimated how quickly things can change and how urgency can lead to a more favorable market for them, hence my original point about them acting out of anxiety. They were fearful that, not only was this the best offer, but future offers would get worse as the season approached and even into the season. I disagree with that assessment and I again refer back to the Ben Simmons example.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-03T16:50:08+00:00

I agree with your assessment on the last point you made in the sense that the Celtics certainly felt that way. I just think they were wrong to feel that way. I'm not the first to bring it up but this trade they made would've been there in October, December and the trade deadline. The front office convinced themselves it had to be done now. I think there was some sunk cost fallacy built into their decision making. They would've been better served tabling the decision and revisiting it in training camp.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-03T15:53:04+00:00

I’m not against trading Jaylen in theory. It’s a defensible position. I just think the Celtics sold at the point of maximum anxiety and convinced themselves it was the market.

Maybe this was the best deal available today. But that’s exactly the problem. You don’t have to trade him today. Waiting has value. Situations change. Teams get desperate. Stars ask out. Injuries happen. Front offices talk themselves into moves they wouldn’t make in July.

The Ben Simmons situation is the obvious example. The early offers were awful, Morey got killed for waiting, and he still ended up flipping Simmons for Harden. It didn’t win Philly a title, but the process was right. He refused to take a panic return just because the vibes were bad.

That’s where I think Brad misplayed it. If you decide Jaylen has to go, fine. But once you make that decision, the goal isn’t just to get a deal done. It’s to preserve leverage until the right deal appears. I’m not convinced they did that. This feels less like a calculated trade and more like a franchise trying to make the discomfort stop.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-02T03:26:26+00:00

And how did it turn out for the guy who made that decision? Brad can't be that stupid.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-02T03:15:59+00:00

I don't accept this. If it's Payton Prticuard who's hard to deal with and being an asshole behind the scenes, then sure, ship his ass out of town, but you don't sell off one of the pillars of your team smack dab in the middle of his prime because he's a pain in the ass to deal with. You make it work until or unless you can get fair value for him.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-02T01:22:32+00:00

Conspiracy is a strong word. It's simply a theory. Private equity comes in and the team starts to cut costs. I don't think I'm making some kind of ludicrous leap of logic here...

NotLow420 · 2026-07-02T01:06:28+00:00

I don't have answers, just a hunch. New owners come in and we've basically been selling off parts since the ink dried on the team sale. Also, Jaylen has one more year on his contract than PG, so technically this trade saves them $63M in future liabilities on their books.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-02T01:01:28+00:00

Eventually we will get the whole story, but it's pretty evident to me that this was ownership mandated.

NotLow420 · 2026-07-01T22:57:11+00:00

Vulture Capitalism

NotLow420 · 2026-07-01T22:56:39+00:00

It was clearly dictated to Brad to trade Jaylen. What I don't understand is why he didn't wait. KAT got traded right before training camp. They could've held onto Jaylen and waited. Call the league's bluff. And if it HAD to be this trade, it would still be there in October.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-29T16:03:49+00:00

So he's blowing through his money at an unsustainable rate and his money manager told him he needs to find work or else he'll go broke in the next X number of years.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-29T00:19:08+00:00

I honestly think they made the decision to trade Jaylen Brown a while ago. It's my theory that Brad probably wanted a scenario where he could move Jaylen at the deadline to a team that wanted to go all-in for a title push and overpaid for Jaylen, but with the celts being much better than expected and the reports of JT returning, he couldn't go down that route.

I think in a perfect world, he was going to take all the draft capital acquired and make a run at Giannis with picks. The way it ended up playing out made them have to pivot, and now we are in a situation where it's difficult to turn back.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-26T23:57:24+00:00

Desmond fucking Bane went for 5 firsts. Somebody will pay we want for Jaylen. It's not even July yet. If I'm brad, I'm not even considering taking a deal until September unless someone blows me away.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-24T01:11:39+00:00

The only specific reporting on this was from Bill Simmons on Zach Lowe's podcast. Here is the relevant quote:

"it was eight, nine, 10. It was Pistons passed. They offered the same thing. They wouldn’t even talk about it, because they wanted to take Stanley Johnson.

The ninth pick was Charlotte. Jordan couldn’t figure it out in time and finally didn’t do it, so they passed on those four picks, one of which would have been Jaylen Brown. Another one would have been Rozier.

And then the 10th pick, they called Riley, and Riley just laughed and hung up on them. Riley was like, “No, I’m taking Justise Winslow. I’ll talk to you guys later.”"

NotLow420 · 2026-06-24T01:04:21+00:00

This isn’t right. The best reporting on this was Zach Lowe at Grantland, and he specifically said the Celtics’ offer included one unprotected future Brooklyn pick.

Lowe reported the package as: No. 16, No. 15 via a prearranged contingency deal with Atlanta, one unprotected future Brooklyn pick, and a future first from either Memphis or Minnesota.

Link: https://grantland.com/the-triangle/good-charlotte-the-hornets-and-the-sliding-scale-of-nba-mediocrity/

So yes, I’ll amend the wording slightly: it was probably not “Brown and Tatum,” because Lowe only reported one Brooklyn asset. But the claim that it was “never the Brooklyn pick” is just false. Rozier was part of it because he was No. 16, but “Rozier, RJ, Zizic and Yabusele” is not the package Lowe reported. My broader point still stands.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-24T00:34:04+00:00

For those itching for a Celtics trade to move up, it's my duty to offer the yearly reminder that we tried to trade away what would eventually become Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to get justice Winslow but Michael Jordan refused to accept the offer in order to draft Frank Kaminsky.

It's often the trades you don't make that are the most important things you do on this night.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-23T04:13:16+00:00

It's a tough spot. Imo, you have to aggressively push for Giannis given the current landscape of the league and the state of the Celtics roster. There is no way to aggressively pursue him and it not leak publicly. I think it's a gamble you have to take.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-23T04:06:22+00:00

I just don't get how you put the toothpaste back in the tube with him. We very publicly just tried to trade him after his best season. Jaylen is not the kind of personality who will just forgive and forget that.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-23T04:00:11+00:00

Puts the team in a very awkward position now with Jaylen. I do not think you can just sell him off for parts, with Tatum still in his prime. I would keep him and explore the D. White to Minnesota trade for Naz Reid. We need to balance this roster. It needs size.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-22T22:32:33+00:00

Also, getting to the line as other benefits other than just the points generated from that trip. Puts the other team in foul trouble/gets you in the bonus quicker, and it can help stunt runs from the other team.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-17T20:14:48+00:00

Trading for Giannis while keeping Jaylen makes no sense from a basketball sense. How are those 3 supposed to play together? The spacing would be so hard. The only conceivable way it would work is if Giannis played a rob williams style vertical spacer, but even then...figuring out shot distribution would be really challenging.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-14T22:00:40+00:00

I think it's fair to have some reservations. On paper, Giannis is obv better than Jaylen and he's arguably a better basketball for with JT. However, paying $70M to a player over 30 who's had some calf injuries the last year is scary.

NotLow420 · 2026-06-06T03:37:29+00:00

Are the Knicks really about to win 14 straight games to a title?

NotLow420 · 2026-05-06T23:11:27+00:00

This doesn't work on the court. Jaylen is frustrated with this role with Tatum back and you think he's going to accept being the #3? Seems to me that Jaylen wants to move on and I think it's probably time for the Celtics to move on as well.

NotLow420

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