Jaylen Brown appears to blow off Jayson Tatum's greeting before Celtics-76ers

Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAYWed, November 11, 2026 at 1:39 AM UTC

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Their first interaction as opponents was very brief — if not entirely cold or indifferent.

In Philadelphia 76ers star Jaylen Brown’s first game against the Boston Celtics, he seemingly ignored a quick greeting from former teammate Jayson Tatum, with whom he played for nine seasons.

The relationship between Brown and Tatum has cooled after the Celtics opted to move on from Brown, culminating in the July trade that sent Brown to the Sixers.

The two have talked publicly about their relationship and have indicated that they have not communicated since the deal.

During the moments right before tip-off Tuesday, Nov. 10, Tatum approached Brown and tapped Brown once on the right arm and twice on his chest as he walked past him. Brown, who was spinning the basketball on his finger, barely acknowledged Tatum and did not reciprocate the greeting.

As soon as the game tipped off, Brown was matched up guarding Tatum, and Tatum eventually forced Brown into a turnover on the other end when he swatted the ball off Brown’s leg; there was significant contact on the play, but Tatum was not called for a foul.

Seconds later, after Brown had argued with officials, he committed a foul on Tatum.

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After the game, which the Celtics won 123-101, Brown greeted many of his former teammates, but was not seen on the broadcast exchanging any pleasantries with Tatum.

“I’m just focused on coming out and doing what’s best for my team,” Brown told reporters after the game. “Everything else was just, to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention, but credit to Jayson; he played well tonight. Credit to the Celtics; they executed, shot the hell out of the ball. They were the better team tonight.”

Tatum, for his part, also downplayed the entire narrative.

“Listen, it’s not about that,” he said, when asked about the pregame interaction. “Tonight was a good team win. (Paul George) was incredible. That’s all there really is to talk about.”

George scored a game-high 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting.

Brown, who got into early foul trouble, scored just 13 points and Tatum dropped 21.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jaylen Brown appears to blow off Jayson Tatum's greeting before Celtics-76ers

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Source: “AOL Sports”