After years of speculation on whether or not they could coexist, the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era of Boston Celtics basketball came to an unceremonious end on July 1 as the Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for forward Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks. Now that the duo has finally been split up, there’s only one question that remains: was it a successful era of Celtics basketball? 

In an era of NBA basketball where everyone wants to be THE guy. Tatum and Brown were able to coexist and bring about one of the most successful eras of Celtics basketball since the 1980s. Over eight seasons when both were fully healthy, the team won more regular-season games than any other team in the league, going 421-215. This brought Boston its first back-to-back 60-win seasons since the championship-winning 2007-08 and 2008-09 teams. 

All the while, both were able to rack up individual accolades. During their time as teammates, Tatum averaged 23.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game and was named to six All-Star teams, four All-NBA first teams, and one All-NBA third team. 

While Brown averaged 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, earning himself five All-Star nods and two All-NBA second teams. 

The 56.7 points per game the pair averaged during the 2022-23 season ranks as the fourth-highest PPG for a duo since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976. 

Along with their regular-season success, no team has won more postseason games than Boston during the Tatum and Brown era, with 74. When both were fully healthy, they never exited the playoffs sooner than the second round.

In the nine seasons of the Tatum/Brown era, the duo played in 127 playoff games, leading Boston to five Eastern Conference Finals appearances, two NBA Finals, and, of course, securing Boston’s 18th banner, handily defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals, where Brown was named the Bill Russell Most Valuable Player. 

In those 127 games, the pair combined to average 43.8 points, 14 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game. 

As a result of the latest collective bargaining agreement, it is harder than ever to win an NBA title, let alone two. In the Tatum and Brown era, only two teams have made multiple NBA Finals appearances: the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, with only Golden State winning multiple titles. To say that the Tatum/Brown era was unsuccessful would mean there is not a single successful NBA franchise in the last nine seasons besides Golden State.

After ending a 16-year championship drought, the second-longest in franchise history, Tatum and Brown became the faces of one of the most successful chapters in the storied history of the Celtics franchise. To say that their nine-year tenure as teammates was anything other than a smashing success would be foolish.