Jayson Tatum angrily reacts to Charles Barkley saying Celtics aren’t tough enough and sends a three-word message to all Celtics teammates [Full story link in comment]

Jayson Tatum angrily reacts to Charles Barkley saying Celtics aren’t tough enough and sends a three-word message to all Celtics teammates [Full story link in comment]

Jayson Tatum hears the criticism about the toughness of the Boston Celtics — and knows the only way his team can change the narrative is to win a championship.

The Celtics star went on “CBS Mornings” Tuesday to announce that his foundation was partnering with the SoFi Generational Wealth Fund to donate over $1 million to low-income families to expand financial literacy and expand home ownership opportunities.

However, the CBS crew wasn’t going to let him go without getting in a basketball question. The co-hosts asked Tatum about recent comments from Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, who argued that the Celtics are “not mentally tough enough” to win a championship right now.

They asked Tatum: Does Barkley have a point? In response, the Celtics star took the high road.

“I mean you have to give the respect, right?” Tatum said. “Those are the guys that paved the way for the younger players like myself.”

Co-host Gayle King, who hosts a CNN show with Barkley, interjected to say, “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”

“You don’t always have to agree,” Tatum continued, with a laugh. “But you have to, in a sense, respect it because of the work that they put in. I understand that in the times that we’re in. You can’t win it – nobody can win a championship until you do it. So nobody’s going to give us the credit until we actually do it and that’s fine.”

Barkley is a basketball Hall of Famer and one of the most prominent analysts on TV right now. Earlier in the season, Barkley picked Boston to win the title. But in the past couple of weeks, Barkley has noted that he is “really concerned” about the Celtics after seeing the team lose at home against other championship contenders.

Barkley argued that Boston is “just playing on talent” and isn’t tough enough to close the deal.

“They’ve got a really good record, but they’re not gonna win the championship,” Barkley said after the Celtics lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February.

At 41-12, Boston still has the best record in the NBA by a solid margin. But as Tatum admits, the team still has a huge task ahead of them in the postseason to change the narrative come playoff time.