Jaylen Brown Refutes Notion That He and Jayson Tatum Can't Coexist

Jaylen pushes back against narrative that he and Tatum can't coexist originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum think they're just fine together, thank you very much.

Whether Brown and Tatum can succeed together in Boston has been a popular topic amid a frustrating season for the Celtics, who sit 10th in the Eastern Conference at 19-21 as of Sunday. They're well away of that speculation, too, as Tatum made clear when he called out Kendrick Perkins on Twitter after Boston's win over the New York Knicks on Saturday.

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Brown, who recorded a triple-double in Saturday's game while Tatum added 19 points, pushed back against the notion that the two All-Stars can't work well together in his postgame press conference.

"I disagree. I think we can play together," Brown said, as seen in the video above. "We have played together well for the majority of our career and things like that. The last year or so hasn't gone as expected, but I think a lot of the adversity that we're kind of going through now is just going to help us grow and get better in the future.

"If we get over this slump and continue to learn, I think there's a lot of good basketball on the other side of this. So, I only can control what I can control."

The evidence of Brown and Tatum thriving together this season is mixed: They've only shared the court for 22 of Boston's 40 games with a 10-12 record in those contests, while their net rating of 4.6 when on the floor together should probably be higher given both of their talents. (Brown also has assisted on just five of Tatum's 319 made field goals this season.)

Brown insisted he and his 23-year-old counterpart have a perfectly healthy relationship, though.

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"I understand everybody has to do their job, but me and J.T. talk," Brown said. "We talked after the game, communicated with each other and things like that. So we're on the same page.

"I get where all the other frustration comes from, but as long as I'm on the same page with him and he's on the same page with me, I think that's what we're more so most focused on. So tonight we wanted to come out and get a win and we did it."

Brown and Tatum have reached two Eastern Conference finals together and still have plenty of room to grow. If the Celtics can turn their fortunes around and make another deep playoff run, that will go a long way toward quieting the chatter surrounding the young star duo. Until then, expect the talk to continue.