Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Image via: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Both players hit milestones in that 2020-21 season. Boston finished 36-36, Tatum made his second All-Star team, and Brown made his first. They earned four All-Star selections as teammates, and the Celtics won 51 games and reached the Finals in 2021-22.
Because everytime you say something, the media, the internet they’re going to take it to a whole ‘nother level,” Barkley said, you can’t feed this machine, man,. They won a championship together, he reminded them.
Tatum said Tuesday night he is done answering questions. Tatum said there was no beef, Brown countered with a joke about lamb chops and gravy, and Barkley’s reaction was a shrug and a question: what are we doing here? Charles Barkley has a simple request for Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum: stop talking about each other. Brown, now with the 76ers, has made no such pledge. Barkley believes the media and the internet will keep stretching every comment, and he wants both players back on the court. Charles Barkley did not dress it up. Speaking on SiriusXM NBA Radio, he called Brown and Tatum good players and good guys. “I think both of them are really good players and both of them are good dudes. The NBA Hall of Famer added, “Just shut the hell up and play basketball. It’s over. I think Jayson tried to like, ‘hey man, I got no beef with JB. And JB like ‘well no beef, there’s like some chicken and some gravy. I’m like ‘yo man, what we doing? That kind of stuff always bothers me, I’m not going to lie. His case is about the machine, and he is not shy about saying so. Say anything, Barkley argued, and the media and the internet will take it to another level. What bothers him most is the swapping of lines. They are grown men, and he wants them to move on.
The Hall of Famer made the plea on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Wednesday, after a week of digs between the former Celtics teammates, from a blue cap emoji to lamb chops and gravy.
How the cap emoji set off the Brown and Tatum back and forth
Brown answered Saturday night after a 27-point showing on his 30th birthday in a 127-116 win over Milwaukee. 10.
“It might be a little lamb chops and some gravy,” he said. The five-time All-Star called Tatum a great guy, took a shot at Tatum’s PR team, and told him to stay ready at all times. Asked about a talk with Tatum, Brown said both men have plenty in front of them.
Each has to handle his own team, and he does not plan to speak with Tatum before Nov.
He also said Brown had his moment last season while Tatum was out, showed he is an elite player, and now wants to be in the same conversations as Tatum.