Jayson Tatum says Shams Charania broke the Jaylen Brown trade to him in Vegas, and Brown answers with a cap emoji

Jayson Tatum says he found out the Celtics had traded Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia the way the rest of the world did – stunned – and that Shams Charania broke the news to him in person after a pickup run in Las Vegas, Conor Ryan relays from Tatum’s new video series.

“We (were) in Vegas. I just got done playing pick-up the first day. Shams walks over,” Tatum said. “He hands me the towel and he’s like, ‘Yo, put this over your face. Don’t react. They just traded him.’ I’m like, ‘Oh (expletive).’ I’m like, ‘Where?’ He said, ‘Philly.’ ‘You traded him down the street?’ So, I was just as much caught off guard as the rest of the world.”

Brown does not appear to accept that version. Under a Bleacher Report Instagram post carrying Tatum’s comments, he replied with a blue baseball cap emoji – slang for a lie or exaggeration, the opposite of “no cap” – which Ryan reads as Brown suggesting Tatum had advance knowledge the blockbuster swap with Paul George was in the works.

Tatum also spoke about what the partnership meant. “I very much have been transparent about how thankful, I personally am, for our relationship, and what we were able to accomplish over nine years,” he said. “Talk about 2017 to 2025-26. Jayson and Jaylen. You won’t ever be able to talk about one of us without the other.”

Brown, now a 76er, had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in his Philadelphia debut to spoil the Knicks’ ring night on Tuesday.