Before you throw a tantrum and talk about how great both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are, hear me out. Tatum, in my eyes, is already a bona fide superstar despite his slow start. Before the season started, I had him potentially being in MVP conversations. Looking back, this might have been biased, but it was definitely possible. Tatum was finally going to be the undisputed number one option. Brown, on the other hand, is my favorite player on the team. I love how he gets better every single season. His ability to score 20 points a night while playing elite defense on the other team’s best player is a big part of the Boston Celtics’ scheme.
I know what you’re thinking: If you like both Tatum and Brown, why would you question if they should stay together? Relax my friend, I’m getting there. Brown started the season averaging about 27 points per game while playing elite defense. However, the Celtics were losing games partially because Tatum wasn’t playing great. When Brown got injured, however, Tatum caught fire and the Celtics started to win games. They had a couple of big wins including a blowout win against the Lakers. But now that Brown is back, they are back to being just “OK.” Brown, however, hasn’t been great. Yes, Brown is coming off of an injury, but this is not new. There haven’t been many games this season or last season that both Brown and Tatum have had good games at the same time. Usually, one has a great night and the other is just decent, and while that may be good enough to secure a playoff spot, I don’t think it is good enough to win a championship.
So, what am I saying? I think they should explore the idea of splitting the duo apart. If your two best players can’t play well together, then they shouldn’t be playing together. To be clear, if the Celtics do trade either of these players, you need to get an all-star caliber player or even an MVP.
If you were to trade one of the two, you would probably trade Brown. He is a little bit older and even though he is great, Tatum is better now and has a brighter future. If they wanted to trade Brown, they would need to make sure to get a perennial All-Star in return like a Devin Booker or a Donovan Mitchell. The only problem is that there is nobody like that available right now. The closest you can get is Ben Simmons. The other option would be Damian Lillard. Lillard has expressed publicly on multiple occasions that he wants to win in Portland, yet they haven’t figured it out yet. If the Celtics could possibly pull off a Brown for Lillard deal, that would be great. One thing that is consistently praised about Lillard is that he is an amazing leader. Every summer he goes on a vacation with his team. This sense of camaraderie is something that has been missing from the Celtics ever since the Kyrie Irving saga ended. Lillard is similar in talent compared to Irving, but is leaps and bounds above Irving in terms of leadership. Lillard, Marcus Smart, Tatum, Al Horford and Robert Williams sound like an elite combination of defense and offense that might shake up the East.