The Boston Celtics trading Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers has led to the spotlight falling on his relationship with one Jayson Tatum. A lot has been said about these two not being all too close, and Tatum’s initial silence after NBA insider Shams Charania reported about the trade on Wednesday only gave more credence to that notion.
Tatum finally broke his silence by expressing love and respect for Brown in a message on Instagram on Friday, but LeBron James‘ friend Cuffs The Legend isn’t buying any of it. Cuffs called the Celtics superstar phony and disingenuous on X, and then claimed to have heard these two had ignored each other when they were at a nightclub in Cannes, France, last week.
“What Jayson Tatum is not telling you is.. he was in the same nightclub with Jaylen Brown just last week in Cannes in France, and they walked right past each other, and they both acted like they had never met before.
“My ‘sources’ were right there and SAW IT ALL and texted me right afterwards.. 100% FACTS!”
what Jayson Tatum is not telling you is.. he was in the same nightclub with Jaylen Brown just last week in Cannes in France and they walked right past each other and they both acted like they had never met before
My “sources” were right there and SAW IT ALL and texted me right…
— 73-9 and THEY LIED (@CuffsTheLegend) July 3, 2026
That’s quite interesting if true. Now, of course, you don’t have to be the best of friends with your coworkers. When you’ve been together for as long as these two have, though, surely you could at least acknowledge each other if you cross paths?
Brown and Tatum were teammates on the Celtics for nine seasons. They repeatedly led the team on deep playoff runs over the years and won a championship together in 2024.
Despite all this success on the court, it appears these two never got particularly close to each other off it. Kendrick Perkins said Brown and Tatum don’t have a strong relationship, and pointed out the latter hadn’t appeared on the former’s Twitch streams.
Tatum had notably made an appearance on Derrick White’s podcast, but not on Brown’s stream. Now, one could have easily dismissed that, but combine it with Cuff’s claims, and there’s just a lot of smoke here.
Brown also interestingly didn’t mention Tatum or the Celtics in his emotional goodbye message following the trade. It was all about his love for the people of Boston.
Prior to all this trade drama, Brown had called the 2025-26 season his favorite despite the Celtics blowing a 3-1 lead to the 76ers in the first round and Tatum missing most of the campaign as he recovered from a torn Achilles tendon. The five-time All-Star later clarified that he said it because of how the group had overcome adversity, but that still raised eyebrows.
There is a lot we don’t know about these two, but what we do know is that Brown feels disrespected by how the Celtics handled this trade situation. The 29-year-old is definitely going to have a point to prove when he plays them next season, and that game is going to be must-watch TV.
