Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum will face each other as opponents for the first time Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Plenty of people will be watching for something beyond the final score.
Payton Pritchard offered a less dramatic view of their years together.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think there was ever a beef or anything,” Pritchard told reporters at Tuesday’s shootaround, via Jay King of The Athletic. “I think it’s working relationships. Some people are closer than others, but find a way to win and keep going.”
That partnership produced a championship in 2024, with Brown earning Finals MVP honors. His July trade to the Sixers ensured the next meeting would draw considerable interest, regardless of what either player said beforehand.
Pritchard acknowledged that NBA locker rooms can be complicated.
“There’s a lot of egos in it and people need an ego to get to the NBA,” he said. “And so definitely it’s a balancing act.”
As for his own relationship with Brown, Pritchard sounded appreciative.
“Obviously, he was there from the moment I got drafted, and we had a good competitive battle,” he said. “He pushed me to get better, so I’m definitely appreciative of that.”
Tatum didn’t speak with reporters at the optional shootaround. Paul George, whose own return to Philadelphia has received considerably less attention, described Tatum as “locked in” and approaching the matchup like “another game on the schedule.”
Brown has taken a similar public approach.
“He’s on his side, I’m on my side, playing basketball,” Brown said Sunday. “Both of us are trying to win, so it’s nothing to talk about. Just check the ball up.”
They can certainly try to treat it that way. After a decade in Boston for Brown, nobody should expect the rest of the basketball world to cooperate.
Related: Sixers’ Jaylen Brown on facing Jayson Tatum: ‘Just check the ball up’
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