Jayson Tatum on What Needs to Change for Celtics: 'That's Not in My Job Description'

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had little to offer when asked what needs to change following his team's first-round playoff elimination versus the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after the 123-109 Game 5 loss, Tatum said that part of basketball operations wasn't his focus:

In Game 5, he showed up with a team-high 32 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks for his third straight 30-plus-point game. He scored 90 points combined in the previous two.

The Celtics may never have seriously challenged the Nets even at full strength, but they were far from it in the playoffs.

Both point guard Kemba Walker and center Robert Williams were unavailable for Game 5, while shooting guard Jaylen Brown missed the entire postseason with a wrist injury. The Celtics may have limped to a 36-36 regular season, but that's partly because of how often they were short-handed.

Forward Tristan Thompson echoed those health concerns:

The 2021 playoffs mark the first time since 2015-16 the Celtics failed to advance out of the first round. After three trips to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2016–17, this was a clear step back.

Fortunately for Boston, Tatum and Brown are locked in through at least 2023-24, with Tatum on board through 2024-25 with a player option for 2025-26. However, regular contributors Evan Fournier, Marcus Smart and Thompson aren't signed long term. The former is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, while the latter two are only signed through 2021-22. Kemba's contract ($36 million next season, $37.7 million player option for 2022-23), and lack of return, mostly because of injuries, could also clog up the books.

Tatum said he plans to offer some thoughts to president and general manager Danny Ainge but added: "That's tough. I mean, yeah, I can make suggestions. I feel like we all have our jobs. It's not my job to make trade suggestions and all that."