Tatum ready to lead new-look Celtics

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum’s one constant during his development into a star with the Boston Celtics has been having Jaylen Brown as a teammate. That partnership ended this offseason when the Celtics front office decided to trade Brown — the 2024 NBA Finals MVP — to the Philadelphia 76ers in what was largely a cost-cutting move that broke up the duo most responsible for leading Boston to the 2024 NBA championship. “The business of the NBA comes and plays a part at some point. And I’ve seen it in my almost 10 years in this league,” Tatum said during the Celtics media day on Monday. “For me it’s more so being grateful for what we accomplished and what he means for this city and to this organization. Just the ups and downs in our career that we were able to grow and learn from and made us the players that we are today. So really just being thankful for those nine years.” The closeness of the Tatum and Brown’s off-court relationship — or lack thereof — was a topic of conversation throughout their time together as teammates, especially as it became clearer that having two $300 million contracts on the books would be...