The cap emoji landed late Thursday on an Instagram repost of Jayson Tatum’s new vlog, according to Boston.com. In the clip, Tatum told the story of how he first heard the Celtics had traded Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown’s only contribution to that story was a blue baseball cap, and in current online slang, “cap” means a lie.
The response came from his own account, under a Bleacher Report post built around Tatum’s clip. No caption, no quote, no explanation. Just the emoji.
Tatum’s version: a towel in Las Vegas
In an episode of his “Summer of Jayson” YouTube series, Tatum described the moment he learned the deal was done. He was in Las Vegas, had just finished a pickup run, and ESPN insider Shams Charania walked over to him with a towel.
“Yo, put this over your face. Don’t react. They just traded him,” Tatum recalled Charania saying, as transcribed by Bleacher Report.
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Tatum told the camera he had been “just as much caught off guard as the rest of the world.” That is the line Brown’s emoji was aimed at, the claim that Tatum had no idea the deal was coming.
The trade Brown is still processing
Boston sent Brown to Philadelphia on 6 July for Paul George, two first-round picks (2028 and 2031) and two second-round picks (2028 and 2030). Brown and Tatum had just won a championship together in 2024.
Tatum spent a long stretch of the same vlog praising that partnership. “I’ve very much have been transparent about how thankful I personally am for our relationship and what we were able to accomplish over nine years,” he said, before adding that “you won’t ever be able to talk about one of us without the other.”
No follow-up from Philadelphia
Brown has not expanded on the post, and he has not deleted it. He has started his first season in Philadelphia alongside Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid, after the summer trade from Boston. Boston has opened its season with Paul George in the frontcourt and Tatum back after a torn right Achilles tendon that cost him most of the previous season.
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