Former Duke Blue Devils star Jayson Tatum has received some very unique and admirable respect from a Boston Celtics teammate.
When Duke Blue Devils legend Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during the Boston Celtics' playoff run last May, most assumed he would be sidelined for the entire 2025-26 NBA campaign.
Instead, Tatum returned this month and has actually looked surprisingly impressive. There was some early rust in his debut, as Tatum air-balled a three and missed a dunk, but he quickly found his groove.
But with Tatum now back on the floor, many have wondered what effect that will have on the Celtics' dynamic with Jaylen Brown, who had established himself as a sleeper MVP candidate prior to Tatum's return.
However, Brown was sure to give Tatum his flowers during a recent appearance on Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, revealing how much he respects Tatum for his toughness.
"First I want to commend JT for ... taking that notion and being like, 'I want to come back,' because he didn't have to," Brown said. "... We know how gruesome and stuff injuries can be. So him even wanting to come back was an unselfish act, putting his potential, his body on the line in order for us to accomplish something great, so I salute that."
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images.Over the years, there has been conjecture that perhaps Tatum and Brown are not exactly simpatico because they both have to share the ball, but there have never been any instances where that has actually been visible.
In fact, the two won an NBA championship together in 2024 and played tremendously well as a duo, so there shouldn't be any reason to believe that they won't continue to feed off of each other upon Tatum's return to the floor.
Tatum, of course, spent one season at Duke in 2016-17 before being selected by the Celtics with the No. 3 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft.
The St. Louis native has since gone on to become of the best players in the league, having made six All-Star appearances while also earning four First-Team All-NBA selections. In fact, those were both running streaks that both ended this year.
Tatum owns career averages of 23.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists over 34.5 minutes per game throughout his professional career.
We'll see if the 27-year-old — who was named Duke's chief basketball officer before the 2025-26 college basketball season — can lead Boston to another NBA Finals run this spring.
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