I want to make this clear. Throughout the nine years that I've been covering and watching the Boston Celtics, I've never once heard Jayson Tatum ask or demand to be the solo leader of the team.

It was clear, at times, that Jaylen Brown felt under-appreciated and was fighting to get to the top of the food chain, but I've never heard Tatum express that sentiment.

Maybe he didn't have to because "we" have already felt that Tatum was there for a few years now, but he's always done a good job at playing within the confines of the team structure and he's always done a good job at sharing the spotlight, whether with Brown, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker or anyone else.

So, he didn't ask for the pressure that he's about to get. But he's going to get it anyways.

Why?

Long thought of as a joke when compared to its Western Conference counterparts, the East looks to be particularly deep right now. So deep, in fact, that NBA.com has the Celtics pegged as the No. 6 team in the conference right now, and that doesn't even account for the notion that the Miami Heat could make further improvements to the roster in the wake of trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo and that the Indiana Pacers could get back to prominence with a healthy Tyrese Haliburton.

As a result, Tatum is going to be the guy tasked with keeping the Celtics as a top team in the Eastern Conference, and while he didn't ask for it, the spotlight will be completely on him as it happens.

After playing just 16 regular season games and six playoff games because of a torn Achilles suffered in the 2024-25 playoffs, Tatum will likely get some leeway as he returns to a full workload in 2026-27. Fans will understand that he's working back and it's a process, to some degree, but that understanding will run out quick, especially in Boston.

He will be expected to play most nights, and he will be expected to perform. And fair or not, his season is going to be compared to Brown's last year. Brown averaged 28.7 ppg and finished sixth in the NBA's MVP voting without Tatum there much of the year.

If Tatum can't put up similar numbers as the leader of the team, then there will be criticism. There's no doubt about that.

Of course, Tatum will need some help, and it will have to come from Payton Pritchard, Derrick White and the newly-signed Mitchell Robinson. But no matter what they do, the onus is still on the now 10-year veteran.

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