Jayson Tatum Not ‘Upset Or Sad’ About Marcus Smart’s Recent Comments

It doesn’t seem like Jayson Tatum took teammate Marcus Smart’s public comments too personally.

The Boston Celtics guard infamously declared, “I just want to play basketball,” after a frustrating loss to the Chicago Bulls last week compelled him to call out the team’s stagnant offense.

After Jayson Tatum scored 32 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and a great defensive showing in his best game thus far — he finally addressed Smart’s comments publicly after a 107-104 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

“We talked about it — individually and had a team meting,” Tatum said. “But I know how to play basketball. I’ve been doing it a long time and I’m pretty successful at it.

“I’ve always made the right plays, I’m not perfect. I got things I can work on and I think that’s the good part about it. You know, as young as I am as good as people think I am I’ve got a lot to improve on and I’ll be the first one to say that. But I’m always going about the game the right way in the way that I was taught, in the way that I’ve been playing my whole life. So that’s never gonna change.”

Interesting.

Tatum seemed especially up-beat after the loss, and it’s hard not to read into the wording of his response. Especially after Smart got called for a poorly-timed foul that essentially allowed Luka Doncic to hit the game winning shot for Dallas.

But even if Tatum’s comments seem a little petty, publicly, he’s moving on.

“It happened, you know?” Tatum said. “And you can’t change it. We’re still a team, we’re still figuring it out, we’re still trying to win games. It’s not like, you know, I’m upset or sad about whatever. It happened. I’m a big believer of whatever happened, happened. You can’t change it. Let’s move on. Let’s try figure it out. Lost a tough game tonight to a good team.”

Tatum and Smart had breakfast together to talk things out after the loss against Chicago, according to president of basketball operations Brad Stevens.

It’s too hard to tell if the damage is done yet.