The Boston Celtics have two of the best young players in the NBA in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and yet that hasn't stopped people over the years from proposing the team break up this duo and test the trade market on one of these stars.
Patience is in short supply in sports these days, right?
It's never made much sense to break up Tatum and Brown, who have both improved so much since entering the league and still haven't hit their primes.
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Tatum recently appeared on the "The Old Man & The Three" podcast with J.J. Redick, and he was asked about the idea of him and Brown being broken up. After saying both of them want to be in Boston, Tatum eloquently explained why trading one of them wouldn't be a good idea.
"We asked each other like, 'Yo, do you want to be here?' And we both was like, 'Yeah,'" Tatum said. "Like, you really think about it, we've had way more success together than, you know, this year and what we didn't accomplish last year. JB's been to three conference finals, I've been to two. I think we're both still very far from our prime.
"And I think what people don't understand is like, all right, if you want to break us up, the grass isn't always greener. There's not a lot of guys in the NBA like JB. Or if you want to get rid of me -- not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm one of the best players. I couldn't imagine why you wouldn't want to have two of the best players that are under 25 on your team. Yeah, there are certain rough patches throughout the season, but we've won way more games together than we've lost."
Jaylen Brown responded to Tatum's comments with the following tweet:
The Celtics have been to three conference finals and won seven playoff series since Brown was drafted No. 3 overall in 2016. Tatum will make his third consecutive All-Star appearance this weekend, while Brown made it last season.
Both Tatum and Brown are two-way wings who can score in a variety of different ways and defend multiple positions at a high level. That's the ideal player in today's NBA. Look at the best teams and they all have elite wings like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, etc.
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There are so many examples in league history of teams trading young stars way too early. The Celtics would be wise not to join that group and be patient with the Tatum/Brown duo.