Tatum scored 36 points in Boston's 107-103 win over the Knicks, then spent his postgame news conference denying any beef with the now-traded Jaylen Brown.
Jayson Tatum put up 36 points in the Celtics' 107-103 win over the Knicks on Friday, but his postgame news conference turned into something else entirely: damage control on his relationship with former teammate Jaylen Brown.
The spat traces back to Brown's July 1 trade to the 76ers, which Tatum said in a video on his YouTube channel left him "just as much caught off guard as the rest of the world." Brown responded with a cap emoji, internet shorthand for calling someone a liar, reigniting chatter about tension between the two.
Tatum used his platform after the win to shut it down. "I don't have any animosity or beef or ill will toward him," he said, adding that the real frustration is how the conversation around their partnership has shifted. "Since he's not on the Celtics anymore, the narrative or the conversations haven't been enough about what we accomplished, all the games we won, winning the championship, how we've grown together. It's turned into this drama type of thing."
Brown, for his part, does not appear convinced the beef is as nonexistent as Tatum claims.