The Boston Celtics think Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd might have some ulterior motives with his recent comments about Jaylen Brown.
On Saturday, Kidd made headlines with his proclamation that Brown, not Jayson Tatum, is the Celtics’ best player in his eyes. The Celtics were certainly aware of those remarks by the time they practiced Saturday afternoon, but they were not biting on them.
Veteran forward Al Horford got a good laugh out of the remarks and suggested that Kidd was pulling a “sneaky” move to try to pit the Celtics’ stars against each other.
Al Horford asked about Jason Kidd calling Jaylen Brown the Celtics’ best player:
“Jason Kidd, man. I see what he’s doing.”
As he walks away, he adds “that man is sneaky” while laughing pic.twitter.com/IyGOUDPyLu
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) June 8, 2024
Tatum himself took it the same way. When asked about Kidd’s comments, Tatum said Kidd was smart for trying to generate a distraction, but had no doubt that it would fail.
Jayson Tatum on Jason Kidd calling Jaylen Brown the #Celtics best player:
“No reaction. This is a team sport. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have JB on our team… People try to drive a wedge between us. It’s a smart thing to do, or try to do… We’ve been in this situation.” pic.twitter.com/iQpuhst3SP
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) June 8, 2024
“This is a team sport. We understand that. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have JB on our team,” Tatum said. “People try to drive a wedge between us. It’s a smart thing to do, or try to do, but we’ve been in this position for many years, guys trying to divide us and say that one of us should get traded or one’s better than the other.”
Kidd’s comments may have been genuine, but the Celtics are definitely taking them as a bit of gamesmanship. That commitment to not being distracted is pretty impressive. No wonder their coach was so confident in their ability to handle the pressure of the NBA Finals.
