No Beef, Just Lamb Chops: Brown vs. Tatum | The Story with Rachel Nichols

Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are sharing the court again, but this time as opponents. And Brown has made one thing clear, just check the ball up. Hey, I'm Rachel Nichols, and welcome to The Story. Let's start with basketball, where tonight in Philadelphia, Jalen Brown will play the Celtics for the first time in a game that counts. A game, of course, made even spicier by the fact that he and Jason Tatum still haven't talked since Brown was traded. And Brown has outright stated he doesn't intend for that to change because there's nothing to talk about. Now, this all comes on the heels of Brown delivering one of the best quotes of all time. A few days ago, he answered a Tatum comment that there was no beef between the two. There's no beef, but, you know, it might be a little lamb chops. And this is all on the heels of what happened a few weeks ago when Tatum was seen in a social post saying that he was just as much caught off guard by the Brown trade as the rest of the world. And Brown basically called him a liar, leaving a cap emoji in the comments. And look, I totally understand why Brown is angry. I just think he's mad at the wrong guy. Let's examine what we've learned about how the relationship between Brown and the Celtics frayed. First off, the Celtics brass has made it clear throughout most of this pair's tenure that Jason was their priority, a reality that in fact physically manifested itself in a small but notable way in the back part of last season. You see, for the whole time Tatum was out last year, Jalen Brown, who had been playing spectacularly, was given the spot of honor in pregame introductions, you know, being announced last. But then Tatum came back, And for the rest of the season, he was given that spot, even though it had been Brown who had been keeping the team afloat much of the season. And things quickly devolved further once the Celtics got tossed from the playoffs. Jalen said on Twitch, remember this, that the season had been his favorite of his entire career, which de facto meant that he preferred the first round exit season he played largely without Tatum to the season when he and Tatum had won a championship together. The Athletic reported that Brown also went to management and said he wanted to be treated more like a franchise player. And while all of this was happening, the team was widely reported to be trying to trade him for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now, it doesn't sound to me like Jason Tatum is responsible for any of that. In fact, team president Brad Stevens has said he specifically kept Tatum out of the trade talks. Now, there's always a chance, guys, that he may be covering for Jason. But per the Boston Globe, Brown's view is that either way, Tatum could have stepped in and tried to keep him, and he didn't. And again, I get it. But we also have to acknowledge staying out of a teammate's trade talks isn't the same as pushing him out the door. Now, the sad part to me about all of this is that both Jason and Jalen may have actually wanted to talk this out, but never did. The week before the trade, Brown and Tatum were both at the same event overseas in France, as was Carmelo Anthony. And Melo told the Globe that he and Brown discussed whether he should just go over to Tatum for a chat. But Brown didn't end up doing it. Then after the trade, Tatum says he reached out to Brown both by phone and by text, but he was never answered. Meanwhile, you got to look overall at the trade itself. This was a win-win so far for both teams. Paul George, who went over to Boston in that deal, is averaging about 20 points a game while making 43% of his threes. And he's only missed one game overall. Then on the Philly side, the Sixers can claim a huge big picture win, sort of a two for one, right? Because LeBron James has said the team acquiring Brown, that's the reason he even started considering joining up with them in the first place. So the big question, who wins tonight? Oddsmakers are pretty split, and it's definitely going to be a show. Just don't expect the curtain call of that show to be Tatum and Brown hugging and chatting the way we often see with other ex-teammates. Brown says there's nothing to talk about with Tatum. And on that, I think he's right. Because the conversation he really needs to have is with the Celtics brass. Although that is a talk I don't think is happening tonight either. All right, let's get to college football, because I want to say this to all of you. Enjoy this season while you can, because yesterday, the college football playoff management committee voted that starting next year, the playoff field will double from 12 teams to 24. This involved a money grab of $1.7 billion at the cost of fundamentally changing a lot of the traditions that have made the sport special for so long. Who needs that? Who needs conference Yeah, you're largely going to say goodbye to those. The title games in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, they're all going away after this season. You know, yesterday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey put out a statement calling the SEC championship game just so important. Quote, a defining event in college football for more than three decades. Which would be a lovely eulogy if it wasn't from one of the guys who just agreed to end it. The new system still hands automatic bids to the four Power Four conference champions, plus the best team from the smaller conferences, and the selection committee will then pick the other 19. But without title games, it's all on paper. Nobody actually plays a game to decide who the conference champions actually are. And there isn't a clear plan of how this is even going to work. The Big Ten says it is still, quote, finalizing plans regarding how to crown a conference champion. So that's great. But the really sad part is that every time college football grabs for more money, and it does it a lot, it loses something. This is a sport that at its heart has long been a regional one. But now, the Big Ten guys sprawls from sea to shining sea. The Pac-12 doesn't even exist anymore. Now we're getting another whack to regional rivalries. You know, the ones that are built on years of big games that actually have stakes, none mattering more than the ones on conference championship weekend. You get whole towns decked out in school colors, alumni from far and wide returning, often with their kids in tow, to one day pick up the flag. Remember some of these? Remember the Alabama-Georgia game, where Jalen Hurts jumped in as the backup and he led the largest comeback in SEC title game history? Or remember the Texas-Nebraska title game? That was the one when officials put one final second back on the clock and the whole thing flipped. Or more recently, the Big Ten title game between Indiana and Ohio State, which was the most watched conference championship in college football history. Yeah, who would want any of that anymore? Speaking of, the official announcement about the playoffs says this expansion was, quote, it's hard for me not to laugh while reading this, driven by a desire to increase opportunities for our programs, student-athletes, and fan bases. Sure. Guys, it wasn't the $1.7 billion. They did this for the fans. Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, who pushed the hardest for this, argued back in the spring that the regular season wouldn't lose value because the new playoff format has tiers, buys, home games, road games. But to me, that's not a reason to watch college football. It's like an airline rewards program. In this sport, the regular season used to be the playoff. For the best teams, every Saturday was an elimination game. And the first Saturday in December, man, that was the big one. College football has been trading that feeling away piece by piece. And yesterday, it did it again for an even bigger check. All right, a little NFL now, and I want to talk football in New York, where today is the NFL trade deadline, and the city's two teams are heading into it in very different moods on the Giants' side. The team may actually have a stable quarterback for the first time all season. Coach John Harbaugh said that J.J. McCarthy is indeed likely good to go, despite hurting his hip in Sunday's win in Philadelphia. And let's also talk about the defense, because in that same game, the defense sacked Eagles quarterback Joe Milton. Seven times on the team's first win in Philadelphia in 13 years. The win also kept the Giants firmly atop the NFC East, which is a far cry from last year's 4-13 disaster. And even really from the start of this season, when injuries to Jackson Dart and some of the other best players on the team created absolute chaos, now a lot of the credit here should go to Harbaugh. He steadied a team that really had every excuse to fall apart. Reports are that he is operating the Giants in a very no-nonsense way that has gotten players respect. Mistakes they get handled bluntly in team meetings, and nobody's spot is safe. This season, Jameis Winston, running back Cam Scadaboo, and center John Michael Schmitz Jr., they've all been pulled from the lineup at times. And it's showing up in close games. According to ESPN, the Giants went 1-7 in one-score games last season. Now they're 4-1-1. Last year, the defense was ranked at nearly the bottom of the league in yards allowed. Now, they're ranked in the top five. I want you to compare all of that to the Jets, who at 2-7 apparently now have to actively keep players from jumping ship. Yesterday, former first-round pick Will McDonald asked to be traded, frustrated by how little he's playing. Coach Aaron Glenn's response? A quick nope, saying we're in the business of keeping good players, so Will's going to be here. By the way, if the Jets were smart, they would trade McDonald for some assets they can use for next year. But as we know, the Jets largely don't make smart front office decisions So yeah, it is a strange time for football in New York, where the team that keeps changing quarterbacks is actually the one that looks stable. All right, congrats are in order. NC State is finalizing a deal to make Phillip Rivers its next head coach, just a couple weeks after firing Dave Doran, who was, admittedly, look, he wasn't having a great season, but he's also the winningest coach in school history. So Rivers has some shoes to fill and a lot to learn about coaching at the college level as well. So far, his only coaching experience has been with his kids' high school team, which in a way is something he's going to keep doing, sort of, because his quarterback for next season will be his son, Gunner Rivers, a four-star recruit who committed back in February. Now, Phillip, of course, also played at NC State. He's pretty much a Wolfpack legend, which will hopefully help in recruiting. The team has only signed one top 25 recruiting class in the internet recruiting era, and his name will open doors. The question is whether it lands recruits whose last name isn't also Rivers. I'm Rachel Nichols. Thanks for watching The Story. Remember, here at Sports Illustrated, the games may end, but the stories don't.