An icy preseason encounter between former championship teammates Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum has sent NBA historians into overdrive. DeMarcus Cousins reignited speculation surrounding the dissolution of the Celtics’ erstwhile star partnership by tracing back to an incident two seasons prior. The 4x All-Star center is going farther than Tatum’s injury and Brown’s ‘favorite season’ comments and placing the blame directly on former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd’s psychological tactics during the 2024 NBA Finals.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
On Gil’s Arena, Gilbert Arenas, Iman Shumpert, and Boogie analyzed Brown’s return to TD Garden for the preseason matchup between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Cameras captured the frosty tension when Brown and Tatum ignored each other on the floor during pregame warmups. Reacting to the clips, Cousins traced the origin of their fracture back to the 2024 Finals, where Kidd publicly labeled Brown as Boston’s “best player” in an overt effort to drive a wedge between the two stars.
“J-Kidd really started this s—,” Boogie explicitly stated. “The whole downfall of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. That was J-Kidd. He was in the interview and he did exactly what you saying, like, ‘Oh, I think how can those guys play together?’ And ever since then, they ran with the story. That was J-Kidd, bro. And he was just playing mind games to win the game.”
Arenas agreed, noting how Kidd took advantage of the media storm following Brown’s 2024 Eastern Conference Finals MVP award over Tatum.
“So what he did was he did what anyone else would do. ‘You the underdog. Let’s see if they can beat themselves,'” Arenas explained. “Yeah. ‘I think Jaylen Brown is the best player on the team.’ Hoping… hoping Jayson Tatum…” Shumpert quickly chimed in, “P— him off… self-destruct,” to which Arenas agreed, “He going to start self-destruct.”
Boogie concluded ominously, “He’s been self-destructing ever since.”
Since Boogie reminded them, fans online are connecting the dots and self-destructing too, blown away by Jason Kidd’s mindgames.
Kidd’s original comments during Game 1 of the 2024 Finals set off a firestorm when he praised Brown’s two-way production over Tatum’s, stating, “Well Jaylen is their best player, so just looking at what he does defensively… That’s what your best player does.”
Back then, everyone in Boston seemed to see through Jason Kidd’s mindgames.
“We understand that people try to drive a wedge between us. I guess that’s a smart thing for Jason to try to do,” Tatum had said then.
“We’ve been just extremely focused on what our roles and our jobs are,” Brown said in response to Kidd. “We have all had to sacrifice. Jayson has had to do that at the highest levels, and I respect him and tip my cap for it. But right now at this point, it’s whatever it takes.”
While Boston went on to win the 2024 title in five games behind Brown’s Finals MVP performance, the narrative surrounding their hierarchy never fully dissipated. It grew worse when Tatum was sidelined with an Achilles rupture in 2025 and Brown went on to have a career season right until his oncourt partner returned.
The Mavs fired Kidd this offseason but it wasn’t the biggest storyline over what happened in Boston. The tension reached a boiling point this past summer when Celtics president Brad Stevens traded the 29-year-old Brown to Philadelphia for financial relief under the second apron in exchange for Paul George and four draft picks.
Brown has been calling out the media narratives since 2024 and this past offseason. He later admitted on a stream that he felt a “lack of respect” from Boston’s front office regarding how the trade was handled, describing his return to TD Garden for the preseason as “running into an ex.”
During Saturday’s preseason exhibition, cameras captured Brown, who sat out the game, getting shots up on the same end of the floor as Tatum without acknowledging or speaking to his teammate of nine years. While official NBA social media channels posted clips of former teammates catching up, such as Paul George talking to Joel Embiid, no footage was posted of the two former Celtics anchors interacting.
Though Tatum insisted in media sessions that he still “loves” Brown and Boston coach Joe Mazzulla previously dismissed outside noise as mere speculation, the body language told a different story. As the 76ers and Celtics prepare for their first official regular-season battle on Nov. 10, the residual impact of Kidd’s 2024 mindgames appears to have permanently altered the dynamic between two of the league’s most prominent stars.