Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the most talented players in the NBA right now. The duo finally crossed the last hurdle in the postseason as they led the Boston Celtics to the 2024 NBA Championship.
Sure, the Celtics had one of the best-constructed rosters last season, but they couldn't have lifted the Larry O'Brien trophy without the contributions of Brown and Tatum. Keeping that in mind, most fans also expected the duo to feature in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
But to everyone's surprise, Brown failed to make the cut for the final 12 men on Team USA's roster. On the other hand, Tatum did travel to Paris only to ride the bench for most of the competition.
Ex-NBA players discuss conspiracy against the Celtics duo
Finding great teammates can be a Herculean task in the modern era of the NBA. However, Tatum and Brown have played their entire careers together in Boston and finally achieved the ultimate goal after years of failures in the playoffs. Former NBA player Lou Williams recently pondered whether the rest of the league is trying to break them up.
"Is there a conspiracy theory going on against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?" Williams said on his podcast . "I really want to know because I'm trying to wrap my head around this whole concept of Jaylen Brown not being on that team, I'm trying to wrap my mind around the league trying to pit them against each other when they've never done that to two superstars. I've never seen that."
Jamal Crawford agreed with Williams' theory and claimed this was the first time he had seen such behavior. The Celtics currently have the strongest team in the league, so it seems natural for other organizations to try everything in their power to take down the 2024 NBA champions, which includes using various mind games.
Williams was shocked Tatum didn't get minutes on Team USA
JT already has a remarkable resume and will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Famer one day. At 26 years old, he already has a resume that most players can only dream of having in the NBA.
Considering that, Williams was surprised that head coach Steve Kerr couldn't find some quality minutes for Tatum in the rotation.
"This is no disrespect to Derrick White, but you're the 3rd or 4th option on that team [Celtics], the second option ain't even on the Olympic team, and the first option not getting playing time and you getting 17, 18 minutes," Williams added.
To be honest, this disparity in minutes on Team USA could lay seeds of disagreement among the Celtics stars during the regular season. After all, Tatum is still the cornerstone player for the Celtics, while White is the fourth option on the roster on most nights.
Related: Jaylen Brown says Danny Ainge consulted him before drafting Jayson Tatum: "We've been winning ever since"
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