Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown aren’t letting trade rumors derail them from the quest at hand — winning an NBA championship.
The rumors surrounding a potential trade between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets during the offseason that would have seen Jaylen Brown head to New York and Kevin Durant come to Beantown have added a question mark to Brown’s future with the team as the season winds down.
Brown had a three-way call with Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to discuss the rumors.
Brown spoke to Logan Murdock of The Ringer about the call.
“Once we all got together and kind of talked it through, we all left on the same page,” Brown said in the interview. “But the actions that was taking place during that time, it just didn’t seem like that was the direction that the organization was going in. I don’t know. It was hard to tell, at least.”
Following Boston’s 120-95 win over the Indiana Pacers, Tatum was asked about the conversation.
“Reassuring the obvious, that we need him,” Tatum said via NBC Sports Boston. “That he’s a big part of this team, this franchise. Without him, we can’t reach our goal.
“You guys know that. The world knows that. The team knows that. We need him to be the best version of ourselves.”
The Celtics look to continue their quest for Boston’s 18th championship at the conclusion of the season. Boston is currently second in the Eastern Conference, two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the top seed.
