Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum
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Celtics' star Jaylen Brown had a hilarious reaction to Jayson Tatum's new hairstyle
The Boston Celtics haven’t exactly had the offseason fans were hoping they would have. After Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, the C’s front office was forced to retool their roster this offseason while Tatum works on finding his way back to the court.
While all signs point to Tatum being ahead of the curve when it comes to his injury rehab, it typically takes NBA players about 10-12 months to recover from this sort of injury, which means he’s likely going to miss the entire upcoming season. Tatum has found different ways to keep him busy as of late, though, and that has involved recently debuting a new hairstyle, which drew a strong reaction from his superstar teammate Jaylen Brown.
Jaylen Brown Reacts to Jayson Tatum’s New Hairstyle
Jaylen Brown's reaction to Jayson Tatum's new look 😂
"JT got braids? Hell nah … JT just doing anything now." 🤣
(via @FCHWPO/Twitch) pic.twitter.com/76yZs5l8uY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 25, 2025
After being selected a year apart from each other with the No. 3 overall picks in the 2016 and 2017 NBA Drafts, Brown and Tatum have been largely responsible for turning the Celtics into one of the most dominant teams in the league as of late. After years of coming up short after making deep playoff runs, Boston’s superstar duo finally led the team to a championship, taking down the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals.
During their time in the league, both guys have experimented with different looks, particularly when it comes to their hairstyles. Brown has been a bit more versatile when it comes to his hair, as he’s sported a variety of different styles. At the end of the 2024-25 campaign, Brown opted to ditch his braided hairstyle and return to a simple buzzcut.
Tatum sported the buzzcut early in his career before opting to grow his hair out. This offseason, Tatum’s hair had become noticeably longer, and it led to him sporting a new braided hairstyle when attending Los Angeles Clippers guard Bradley Beal’s wedding over the weekend. When Brown caught wind of Tatum’s new hairstyle, he had a hilarious reaction to it.
“They saying JT got braids?” Brown said during a stream on Twitch. “Hell nah. JT got braids? Nah, that’s crazy … that’s insane. JT just doing anything now.”
Jaylen Brown, Celtics Anxiously Awaiting Jayson Tatum’s Return to Action
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
GettyJayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics and Jaylen Brown #7 laugh together during the second half of the game against the New York Knicks
In the wake of Tatum’s expected season-long absence, the Celtics have been hard at work shedding salary this offseason. That resulted in both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis getting traded, with Luke Kornet (and likely Al Horford) leaving in free agency. That leaves Brown and Derrick White leading the charge forward for Boston in the 2025-26 campaign.
The hope is that once Tatum eventually returns, the C’s will be in a spot to build their roster back up and go on another championship run. There’s a small chance he could return late in the upcoming season, but with Boston looking unlikely to contend for a title, there’s no sense rushing him back. Brown will hold down the fort in his absence, and it will be interesting to see how competitive he can help this team be without his longtime co-star.