Jaylen Brown appears to call Jayson Tatum a liar with ‘cap’ comment on video of Tatum’s reaction to Sixers trade
The two played together for nine seasons with the Celtics before Brown was traded to Philly this offseason.
Following his team’s big comeback win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, new Sixers guard Jaylen Brown appeared to have his former team on his mind.
Before the game, Jayson Tatum, Brown’s longtime Boston Celtics teammate, posted a new episode of his documentary series, Summer of Jayson, on his YouTube page. It featured Tatum’s reaction to the July trade that sent Brown to Philly and Paul George to Boston. That video was clipped and posted on Instagram, and after the win, Brown had a one-word, err emoji, response: 🧢
The blue cap emoji is synonymous with the slang phrase “cap,” which means someone is being untruthful or lying. Clearly Brown didn’t like something Tatum said, although it’s unclear what part of the video he took issue with.
Tatum started by recounting how he found out the trade went down.
“Bro, we was in Vegas. I just got done playing pickup, the first day. [ESPN’s] Shams [Charania] walk over, he hand me the towel, he’s like, ‘Yo, put this over your face, don’t react, they just traded [Brown],’” Tatum said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, s—.’ I’m like, ‘Where?’ He said, ‘Philly.’ I said, ‘You traded him down the street?’ So I was just as much caught off-guard as the rest of the world.”
He continued by heaping praise on his former teammate and recounting what they accomplished together during their nine seasons in Boston, including winning the 2024 NBA title.
“I will always say I knew every time I stepped on that court that when it was time to go to war, I looked to my left and my right, and No. 7 was over there, I knew that he was going to do whatever it took for us to try to win,” Tatum said. “The way that we pushed each other, I definitely made him better, and he made me better. And we made our team better; we made this organization better. We won a championship. Like, we are forever stitched in stone in NBA history, like, we held up that trophy. It won’t ever be forgotten.”
This isn’t Tatum’s first time publicly sharing his reaction to the trade. He initially said in July that it “was weird” after the two shared the court for nearly a decade. Around the same time, Brown said on a Twitch stream that he felt a “lack of respect” from his former team.
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As for his relationship with Tatum, Brown said at his introductory news conference in August that he had “not really” spoken to Tatum since the trade. He also said at the time that he had “nothing but respect,” but his comment on Thursday basically accused Tatum of lying about his reaction to the trade or their relationship as teammates.
The Sixers and Celtics played a pair of preseason games earlier this month, but the two didn’t share the court. Tatum played in the first game in Boston while Brown sat; then Brown played in Philly while Tatum rested.
Their first head-to-head matchup is Nov. 10 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Beat reporters Gina Mizell and Chris Hine break down their most intriguing quotes from LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey during the preseason, along with what they most hope to learn about this revamped roster during the first month of the season. Watch here.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Sixers Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
