Jayson Tatum Says He's Talked to Wizards' Bradley Beal About Joining Celtics

Jayson Tatum has been doing what he can to see if Bradley Beal would have interest in potentially joining the Boston Celtics. 

Speaking to Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston, Tatum said he's talked to the Washington Wizards star about the possibility of teaming up at some point:

Tatum is vague in his comments about what exactly he and Beal spoke about, so he may be able to get around the NBA's tampering rules. 

Steve Aschburner of NBA.com noted in Sept. 2019, when the league increased fines for tampering, that the league "historically has not enforced tampering rules against player-to-player contact."

Another potential issue for Tatum if he hopes to play with Beal at some point is that the Wizards are off to a great start this season.

The Wizards have won four of their first five games, and the depth they acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers as part of the Russell Westbrook trade is paying huge dividends. Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have combined to average 45.4 points, 23.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. 

Speculation about Beal being traded has been ongoing for more than a year, but Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported in July the three-time All-Star "has no desire to leave the Wizards" right now.

On the flip side, it's not hard to see why Tatum would want to have Beal in Boston. The Celtics are off to a 2-3 start and have a -4.8 net rating through their first five games. They are shooting 35 percent from three-point range as a team. 

Tatum leads the Celtics in scoring average (26.6 points per game) in five starts this season. 

Beal could be a free agent after this season. He has a $36.4 million player option on his contract for the 2022-23 campaign. The 28-year-old is averaging 21.5 points, 4.5 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game in four starts.