Sometimes life immitates art — so they say.
I recently finished NBC/Peacock’s Crystal Lake series. Great watch. The premiere season follows Pamela Voorhees as she grieves the supposed loss of her son whose body was never found after he drowned at summer camp. Without spoiling too much, Pam, progressively pushes boundaries of what she’ll do to bring the boy home, or to at least avenge the loss.
It reminds me a lot of what we’re seeing with Jaylen Brown.
It’s a sad spiral to watch. A largely sympathetic
character repeatedly does what they can to fumble away the benefit of the doubt.
All over someone named Ja(y)son, nonetheless.
You’d have to be living under the rock to have missed this past weekend’s exchange of words between the two former Celtics teammates and NBA champions.
In short, Jayson Tatum posted a summer docuseries episode where he claimed to have known nothing of the eventual blockbuster that sent Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers. Brown called “cap” (or BS) publicly in an Instagram comment.
Tatum addressed the not-so-subtle jab after Boston’s win over the New York Knicks on Friday. He insisted there was no beef. A day later, Brown agreed, but said there might be some “lamb chops and gravy” and that Tatum should “stay ready at all times.”
Then, NBC Sports Boston’s Brian Scalabrine went on his Starting Lineup show on Sirius XM and shared details from the final months of No. 7’s time with the Cs, saying that Brown had a list of demands he wanted the organization to meet and if they didn’t, he wanted to be traded.
Brown’s camp refuted the report and Scal walked back some of what he said during Monday’s pregame show.
Nonetheless, the damage was already done and you’ll never guess how the fanbase reacted.
Those who were already only tolerating Brown while he was still wearing the green and white pounced on the opportunity to smear him and took their repsective victory laps online. I’m not going to link a bunch of tweets here, but trust me, it’s not hard to find it.
The speed in which a large majority of the fanbase has turned its back on JB is dissappointing. He’s undeniably one of the great players in the franchise’s storied history and will likely be the last to ever wear No. 7 (unless this gets brutally ugly).
It’s been less than four months since the trade and his status in the Celtics community has already plummetted. But regardless of how you feel about it, Brown won an NBA Finals MVP here. He played an undeniable role in one of the winningest eras in franchise history (in terms of winning percentage). Plus, JB embedded himself in the Boston community with his7uice Foundation.
He also, at least partly, did this to himself.
I’m not trying to pick sides here, and frankly probably still land pro-Jaylen, but I also dont’ think Scal is just making things up. He might’ve misspoke and inadvertently suggested that there was a trade request, but there has to be some truth mixed in there.
Is that truth justified?
Maybe. It depends what the alleged demands were. If Brown wanted the organization to favor him over Tatum, really in any way but specifically in some sort of “me or him” scenario, then he was out of bounds.
We’ll probably never know what they were, but it’s safe to assume it wasn’t something small.
Then, of course, the Twitch stream following Boston’s playoff elimination didn’t sit well with anyone. Brown reitterated that he was proud of his teammates (as he should’ve been with the low expectations publicly put on the group ahead of the season), and that the 2025-26 season was his favorite of his 10-year career.
Mind you, the Celtics won a title two years ago in which he was Finals MVP.
So now, we’re looking at a formerly beloved player now playing for a rival team and a fanbase that is willing to go to war for Tatum, who still wears the uniform and is the undisputed face of the franchise. The unstoppable force will meet the immovable object on Jan. 21, when Brown makes his regular-season return to TD Garden.
When the NBA released its schedule back in August, fans circled that date imagining a celebration of a tremendous 10 years. Now it’s tough to know what to expect. For all we know, Brown’s name might be met with 18,000+ boos when it’s called along with the rest of Phildelphia’s starters.
The worst part is that it’s tough to even say what’s appropriate at this point. Brown hasn’t been shy about the bitterness he feels towards both the Celtics and Tatum. That bitterness, though, comes from one of two places: ego or betrayal (it’s probably a mix of both).
Regardless, a nasty reunion is going to be a bad look for everyone involved. Of course, JB will look foolish or egotistical for burning bridges in Boston. The fans would come across as ungrateful — not the best message for any future potential Celtics.
Who knows what the story will be by then, though. We’re still three-ish months away. There’s plenty of time for more drama and back-and-forth. For now it just feels icky.
