NBA

Shaq explains why the Celtics won't win with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum

As much as they've thrived together since they entered the league, maybe it's time for the Boston Celtics to reconsider the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown pairing, says Shaquille O'Neal.

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum
© Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesJaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum

The Boston Celtics knocked on the door of an NBA championship again. But just like it happened last season, they crumbled under pressure, even despite some nice performances by Jayson Tatum.

And with Jaylen Brown set to make $295 million in his next contract extension, the jury is out on whether the Celtics should commit that much money to him after his no-show in the postseason.

That’s why Shaquille O’Neal believes it’s time they come to terms with the fact that their elite duo isn’t working, urging the Celtics to pull the plug and break them up once and for all.

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Shaq Thinks Celtics Should Break Their Duo Up

“I don’t want five stars on my team,” Shaq said on his podcast. “I want a guy that I can go to every night, I want a guy that’s going to lead, and I want three dogs, three others. I would prefer if they were specialists: one to be a shooter, one to be a rebounder, and one to be a fighter.”

“I would, business-wise, break them up and use one of them to get the pieces I want,” Shaq continued. “I would say Tatum is the number one. Use Brown to bring in a Brown-type player and then just do it like that. It’ll be good for Brown because it’ll give him the opportunity to be number one somewhere because he’s a number one caliber player.”

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The Celtics will have to weigh in a lot of things when putting together their roster for next offseason. Maybe, the time to separate their young stars has finally come, as much as they have avoided that scenario.

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