Jayson Tatum says there is nothing to the story about him and Jaylen Brown. "This ain't f---in' Shaq and Kobe, there's no beef," he said, per CBS Sports' Robby Kalland. CBS also reported that Tatum wishes people would focus on what he and Brown accomplished together, and that he thinks communication could solve a lot of issues. The feed summary doesn't say which issues he meant, and we don't have the full article.

The other outlets treat it as a live storyline. Yahoo Sports wrote that Brown and Tatum "can't stop talking about their relationship." SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell argued that the referendum on the Celtics' decision to trade Brown to the 76ers this summer "might last all season." His framing is that a Boston win makes it a great trade, while a collapse like blowing a 22-point lead with Tatum shooting 6-for-23 makes it a bad one. ESPN's "Big Day with Peter Schrager" asked the same question in its headline, "Is it beef or is it nothing?", with Schrager, Domonique Foxworth, Steve Smith Sr. and Brian Windhorst weighing in. The same segment covered the Knicks starting 0-3. Tatum's comments are the only direct quotes in the material we have. The others are commentary on top of them.

The early results are mixed. Boston is 1-1 and second in the Atlantic. It beat Philadelphia 125-120 at PHI on Oct. 16, lost 121-113 at Detroit on Oct. 20, then beat Chicago 134-99 on Monday. Tatum has played both games, averaging 37.5 minutes and shooting 10.0-for-24.5 (40.8%), including 1.5 threes on 8.5 attempts a night. That is a heavy shot load on modest efficiency, which is the kind of line that fuels the "welcome to being the guy" argument.

Philadelphia is 3-1 and leads the division, though it has lost its last one. It beat Cleveland 114-106 and Milwaukee 127-116, then fell 106-93 to Detroit on Sunday. Brown has started all four games at 36.8 minutes, shooting 42.5% (7.8-for-18.3) with 2.0 threes on 4.8 attempts. His shooting percentage is almost identical to Tatum's, so the numbers don't yet settle the question either way.

Boston's next game is tonight at home against Brooklyn. Philadelphia visits Indiana on Wednesday. On Friday, Oct. 30, the 76ers host the Knicks and the Celtics host Chicago, so the two teams won't meet again right away. Their first meeting was the Oct. 16 game in Philadelphia.