Jayson Tatum has made his feelings on Jaylen Brown very clear.
Brown has one more year left on his four-year, $106 million contract with the Boston Celtics. There has long been talk and rumors about his fit with Tatum and whether there is tension between the two players. But Tatum made clear after the team lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night that he wants the Celtics to keep Brown long-term.
"It's extremely important," Tatum said of signing Brown to an extension. "He's one of the best players in the league."
The core of Tatum and Brown has made the Celtics one of the top teams in the East the last several seasons. Since Tatum entered the league in 2017-18, the Celtics have reached at least the conference finals four times, and they made the NBA Finals last year. Brown was drafted a year earlier, and the team reached the conference finals that season too.
Although the Celtics haven't broken through for a championship with those players yet, they have been close. Despite the postseason disappointment, breaking that team up wouldn't seem to make much sense.
Want more articles like this? Follow Larry Brown Sports on MSN to see more of our exclusive NBA content.
More must-reads:
Related slideshow: The 20 best NBA teams of the 2000s (Provided by Yardbarker)