Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have plenty in common.
The two young Boston Celtics stars were first-round picks with just one year separating the two. Nevermind the fact that both of their names start with “Jay,” end with the letter “N” and are aesthetically similar.
That said, it’s not shocking that sometimes those around the Celtics organization can get the two confused. Apparently, Brad Stevens is among those who do, at least according to 23-year-old guard Jaylen Brown.
“Brad does it a lot,” Brown humorously told Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks. “Brad will be drawing up the play and be saying Jaylen, but be put ‘JT’ on the clipboard. So, me and JT (Jayson Tatum) look at each other like ‘Ight bro, one of us gonna get the bucket. It don’t even matter.”
In addition to their age and names being somewhat easy to confuse, Brown and Tatum’s contributions on the court also have run parallel.
Brown averages 20.2 points and 6.4 rebounds this season for The Green while Tatum is averaging a similar 22.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. Brown discussed what stood out to him about his 21-year-old counterpart as well.
“That it factor, that niceness factor,” Brown said. “He can do the same move as somebody else and just look better when he do it. He just got it. Some people got it and some people don’t. He got that it factor for sure.”
Brown has been battling injury issues during recent weeks but is ‘probable’ for Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers at TD Garden.
