Jason Kidd Explains Why Jaylen Brown Is Better Than Jayson Tatum

Jason Kidd set off a media firestorm last week when he suggested that Jaylen Brown, not Jayson Tatum, was the Boston Celtics’ best player.

“Just looking at what he does defensively, he picked up Luka (Doncic) full court,” Kidd said.

“He got to the free throw line. He did everything. And that’s what your best player does… He plays both sides, defense and offense at a high rate. He’s been doing that the whole playoffs. When you talk about the Eastern Conference MVP and it seems like he’s continued to pick up where he left off. So he’s playing at a high rate.”

Things got even more messy when Jrue Holiday, arguably he Celtics’ third best player, seemed to openly agree with Kidd’s assessment.

“I don’t think he’s lying,” Holiday said at the time, before walking back his comments a few days later.

This week, following Boston’s Game 2 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Kidd doubled down on his statement.

“I thought my comment about Jaylen Brown is from watching tape & from watching Game 1,” Kidd said.

“I thought my comment about Jaylen Brown is from watching tape & from watching Game 1. Again, he was the best player… Everybody thought it was mental warfare… That was just my opinion.”

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“Again, he was the best player… Everybody thought it was mental warfare… That was just my opinion.”

A lot of people felt like Kidd’s initial comments were gamesmanship and mental warfare. That doesn’t appear to be the case, though. It seems like he is just calling it how he sees it: Brown is playing significantly better basketball that Tatum at the moment.

On both ends.

How will Kidd repeatedly stating the obvious as it pertains to Brown and Tatum ultimately iNFLuence all parties involved? Time will tell.

Related: 13 Examples Of Celtics Embarrassing Luka Doncic On Defense

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.