Steve Kerr tried to mitigate the perceived beef with Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, offering brief details of a chit-chat the two shared in Golden State.

Kerr claims the two have spoken several times, and have even exchanged text messages since the 2024 Paris Olympic drama unfolded this past summer — Tatum sat out twice in USA Basketball’s six-game gold medal run. Yet, that wasn’t enough to repair the outside perception of their relationship entering the regular season and into Monday night’s Celtics-Warriors matchup at Chase Center.

Tatum, before continuing Boston’s four-game road trip in Los Angeles against the Clippers, confirmed Kerr’s retelling of events from earlier this week.

“Yeah, I saw him after (the game). They just caught that part (on television) but I said what’s up to him,” Tatum told reporters at practice Wednesday, per CLNS Media. “Told him, ‘Good luck for the rest of the season.'”

Boston handed Golden State a back-alley beatdown that ended in a 125-85 final score, and immediately after cameras captured Kerr attempting to greet Tatum and Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown. Tatum was in the middle of a conversation with Warriors star Stephen Curry while Brown awkwardly stared at Kerr before the 59-year-old — picking up what the Jays were putting down — strolled along.

Story continues below advertisement

Social media quickly got a hold of the clip and reignited the Tatum-Kerr beef, albeit with a hilariously uncomfortable moment worthy of going viral.

Tatum made easy work of the Warriors, scoring 22 points and falling a rebound shy of a double-double. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla rewarded Tatum’s efforts by sitting him for the entirety of the fourth quarter and allowed the reserves to get some garbage time burn en route to forcing Kerr to endure a 40-point loss.

    What do you think?  Leave a comment.

The supposed repaired relationship, according to Kerr, had been in the works months before Tatum and Brown secured their revenge victory in Golden State. Kerr claimed he spoke with Tatum long before Monday’s game and that the beef had been “overblown” by the media and everyone from the outside.

“We texted after the game in Boston a couple of months ago and we talked last night after the game,” Kerr told 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” show. “I will tell you that Jayson was an absolute dream to coach. During all that stuff, that so-called controversy, you might notice there wasn’t a single quote from Jayson. It was everybody else talking about it. Jayson’s an amazing guy and an incredible player and he couldn’t have handled it any better when he was there. The reality is 2024 these guys are all in the spotlight. There’s so much pressure on them and that whole thing was overblown.”

Story continues below advertisement

Tatum, Brown and the Celtics have since had the last laugh throughout their title defense.

Boston’s blowout victory to kick off its road trip dropped Golden State to 11th place in the Western Conference at 21-21 while the C’s became the third team in the NBA this season to eclipse 30 regular-season wins as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Featured image via Cary Edmondson/Imagn Images