Jayson Tatum Reveals Why Jaylen Brown Pairing Was Held To ‘Higher Standards’ In Boston

Boston Celtics‘ Jayson Tatum has spoken about his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon this season and the pressure he felt next to the All-Stars Jailen Brown to win, as he contemplates their championship run in 2024. It didn’t take long for Tatum to realize that playing for the Celtics means holding yourself to a higher standard, especially after back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals like Brown had in his first two seasons in Boston.

Despite Tatum and Brown being in their early 20s, Tatum says the All-Star tandem, playing for the NBA’s biggest franchise, was expected to win the championshipespecially after playing with each other for a few seasons, he told The Pivot podcast.

“We held ourselves to a much higher standard than everybody else, which is part of being in Boston, playing for the Celtics. You’re expected to win a championship,” Tatum said. “We’re just thankful that we had an organization that believed we could be a cornerstone in bringing home a championship with the right pieces around us.”

“As we’ve gotten older, we’ve both gotten paid, we’ve both had individual success and All-Agers. Now, let’s figure out how to put it all together. We’ve been to two finals, one of them. Hopefully we have a lot more to accomplish with each other.”

Without Tatum, who has spent the entire season coming back from one of the most serious injuries in basketball, the Celtics, led by Jaylen Brown, are 29-17, the second best mark in the Eastern Conference.

Jayson Tatum says he considered retirement due to injury

Celtics star Jayson Tatum was considering retirement after his MRI scan after injuring his Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks. A sobbing Tatum could not fathom the uphill battle before him, looking at the results his first MRI scan made the process feel even more impossible.

“Sitting in that doctor’s office and seeing the doctor put the MRI on and seeing that line through my hamstring, I just remember sitting there and breaking down crying,” Tatum said. “And I remember saying, ‘man, I can’t do this.’ Because I just knew how hard it would be. And I felt like this was the best version of Jayson Tatum ever. And now it’s like, ‘damn, I have to start all over again.’ And I remember saying, “I can’t do this.”

It took Tatum a while to come to grips with the severity of his injury.

“And you know, it took time. There were a few weeks where I was thinking, ‘Damn, have I made enough money, have I accomplished enough,'” Tatum continued. “It was like moments like laying in my house with my leg up and I thought, ‘Damn, I might be done.'”

Soon, Tatum was in the gym taking the necessary steps to begin his recovery, where he continues to progress, with a potential return looming before the end of the Celtics’ 2025-26 campaign.