During the week of Oct. 20, the 2026 NBA regular season kicked off, after a long offseason of massive trades, free agent signings and typical basketball-related drama. The Boston Celtics, who played the Detroit Pistons at Little Ceasars Arena to mark the first regular-season game, put on a rather poor initial performance.
Boston amassed a 22-point lead over Detroit midway through the third quarter only to be outscored by a net of 30 points afterwards, losing 121–113 despite a vintage performance from the newly acquired forward Paul George.
A big reason for this outing was the play of superstar forward Jayson Tatum, who contributed little to the initial lead and tremendously to the collapse.
In his 38 minutes on the court, Tatum only scored 13 points, made six out of 23 of his attempted field goals (including going 0 – 7 from the arc) and had two turnovers, which was good for a plus-minus of negative five. Though this technically counts as a double-double due to 11 assists he also recorded, it will go down as one of the weakest ones in his career.
Coming into the season, many questions swirled regarding Tatum, most of which weren’t answered on opening day. One of the reasons why was because this would be his first full season back since tearing his Achilles in the 2025 postseason. These types of injuries have historically been a cause of concern due to their severity, and it wasn’t clear if Tatum could fully recover from it and sustain a high level of play across an entire season.
Further questions arose due to the offseason moves Boston made in early July. The biggest of which was the announcement that franchise legend and Tatum’s “partner in crime” Jaylen Brown was being traded to the rival Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a couple of draft picks and George.
The trade sent shockwaves throughout the league and is speculated to have ultimately played a contributing factor in Lebron James deciding to take his talents to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Boston had officially signaled that they intended for Tatum to take the reins of the team, something that may have felt a bit unofficial in the years preceding the trade.
Brown was coming off a great 2025 season where he led the team to second in the Eastern Conference and a playoff appearance. He did this with a roster that was believed to only have a fighting chance for postseason basketball. This is also the second time a Tatum-less team on which Brown was on made the playoffs, the first being his rookie season in 2016.
Brown continued his high level of play in 2026 as he recorded 18 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in Philadelphia’s 106–100 win over the defending champions New York Knicks in their season opener. In juxtaposition to Tatum’s performance and within context of his injury, week one overreactions were dominated by if Tatum could lead the team without a clear “1B” option next to him.
If Tatum’s abilities were ever in doubt, he very quickly quelled them in Boston’s first home game against the Knicks. In what felt like a complete 180 from the season opener, Tatum recorded 36 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals to help maintain a solid lead and prevent a fourth quarter comeback by New York.
This game demonstrated that this version of Tatum, despite the repaired and healing Achilles and lack of another younger star as a complement, could still play at the level superstars are expected to play.
What it did not do, however, was silence questions regarding the Brown trade. In fact, it only fueled them.
In the postgame press conference, Tatum was asked about Brown implying that he was lying about being surprised about the trade with Philadelphia. Tatum gave a very mature response.
“I don’t have any animosity or beef or ill will towards him,” Tatum told the media.
“I think the frustrating part is, since he’s not with the Celtics any more the narrative or the conversations haven’t been enough about what we accomplished, all the games we won, winning a championship, how we’ve grown together.”
Tatum makes it clear that he didn’t have issues with Brown or was in any way involved in the decision-making of the trade, seems like he wants to move past it, and instead would like their relationship to be remembered by the accomplishments they achieved together.
The following day, Brown was asked by Philadelphia media about Tatum’s comments, to which he gave a rather peculiar answer.
“There’s no beef,” he told reporters Saturday night, “but it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy. He should stay ready at all times.”
Despite Tatum and Brown having proved themselves as more-than-capable stars in the NBA with the start of the 2026 season, a one-sided divide clearly still exists, at least publicly.
Though both will undoubtedly continue to play great basketball for their respective teams, one must wonder whose mentality will not only benefit themselves more throughout the season, but also their team.
Tatum, for any of the faults that may exist in his game, has the qualities that any basketball fan would hope the leader of their team has. He, along with the Celtics, are in a good spot even with all the turnover, change and superficial drama around them.