Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum closeness stood out to Danilo Gallinari in time with Celtics

MEXICO CITY - Boston Celtics forward alum Danilo Gallinari has felt the heat of being on the wrong end of a clickbait narrative not long ago after comments about his health in Boston were taken out of context. Ironically, when he was with the Celtics, he managed to mostly avoid the ire of such framing despite injuring himself in FIBA play before the start of his tenure.

"As far as media coverage, I didn't play, unfortunately, that season in Boston, so I couldn't really experience the media coverage," Gallinari told the Celtics Wire as the Boston alum paid a visit to the 2026 NBA Mexico Game this past Thursday (Nov 5), sounding almost as if he regretted having not been in such a fight.

However, he did have a privileged view of two Celtics teammates who often found themselves in similar narratives despite the success on the court they found together. Those teammates – Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown – have seen new life breathed into those takes after the trade of Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, though there may be some substance to them, at least now. But from where Gallinari could see, their connection was complimentary, if anything. "The relationship that I saw was amazing because they were spending a lot of time together," he explained.

"They were playing so much one-on-one together every single day, which is something that I've never seen from two All-Stars in a team," recalled Gallinari. "(When) I was the star of the team, I didn't play that much 1-on-1 with the other stars of the team."

"And I haven't seen that dynamic in too many teams that I've played in," added the Sant'Angelo Lodigiano native. "So it was great to see that. Once I saw that, I was like, 'Well, your two best players, your two stars, have that relationship on the court. We have a chance to win the championship'. So for me, it was great to see how they were handling themselves on the court."

We may never know if something happened between the two since that campaign falling between their 2022 and 2024 NBA Finals appearances, a liminal campaign that will remain part of the ties between these three Boston forward alumni.

But if something did cause Brown and Tatum to have fallen out afterward, the seeds of it had not yet begun to produce visible growth during the time Gallinari was around them.