One bad night doesn't sink Tatum, but the Brown trade is now his to own

Can a single 6-for-23 night rewrite the story of a franchise trade? Of course not. But can it expose what everyone was already wondering? Absolutely, and that is exactly why the Celtics' opening-night loss has turned into a referendum on Jayson Tatum.

A 22-point collapse is a fact; what it means is the debate

Boston squandered a 22-point lead in a 121-113 loss to the Pistons. The Celtics led 72-50 early in the third quarter, then Detroit ripped off a 23-0 fourth-quarter run. Tatum finished with 13 points on 6-for-23 shooting, missed all seven of his 3-pointers, and shot 1-for-10 after halftime. Paul George, in his Celtics debut, scored 38 points with seven 3-pointers.

Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown debuted for Philadelphia with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a 106-100 win over the Knicks. His plus-17 was the best mark on either team. Stephen A. Smith, according to Yahoo Sports, pointed at Tatum after the loss over the Brown trade.

One game is noise; the setup is not

Let's be fair first. A single game is a tiny sample, and Tatum had 10 points and a plus-14 in the first half. Ausar Thompson's defense mattered, and so did a Detroit team that simply kept coming. Tatum also had 11 assists, so this wasn't a disappearing act. He was candid afterward: "definitely not one of my best nights."

The context is what makes the questions legitimate, though. Tatum is now the Celtics' lone star, as NBA.com's preview puts it, and he is roughly 1.5 years removed from his Achilles injury. He played 22 games between the regular season and playoffs last year and couldn't finish the postseason. His health and mobility, in the preview's words, will be "under the microscope." A second half in which Thompson made his drives uncomfortable fits that worry uncomfortably well, even if it doesn't prove it.

Blaming Tatum for the trade is lazy, but the role question is real

We think pinning the Brown trade on Tatum, as the loudest takes do, is a stretch. Nothing we have seen shows who pushed for what, and the trade debate is full of speculation. What we can say is that it doesn't matter who gets "blamed": the outcome is that Tatum is the face of a reshaped team.

And the reshaping is stylistic, not just personnel. Boston ranked last in the percentage of shots taken in the paint for a third straight season, and George is more of a jump-shooter than Brown. NBA.com's own suggestion is that the offense may need changes for balance. Mitchell Robinson's rim-running helps, but we suspect the burden of creating pressure on the rim falls on Tatum more than before. He said it himself: "Part of my role is scoring."

That is the real debate. Not "Was Brown or Tatum better?" (a fan on Reddit insists 90% of Tatum beats 105% of Brown, which is a fun line and nothing more), but whether a team that has ranked last in free throw rate in each of the last two seasons can lean on one star shooting efficiently every night.

The verdict belongs to April, not October

Don't judge the trade on an opening game, and don't judge Tatum on it either. The Celtics have been a regular-season machine under Joe Mazzulla, and they were top five on both ends for four straight years. But the last two postseasons ended in losses to lower seeds, and that, not October, is where this team gets graded.

Our verdict: the questions about Tatum's role are fair, the verdicts are premature. The more telling test comes Friday against the Knicks, then in January when Brown returns to Boston, and above all in whether Tatum's shot-making gets steadier. If it does, this was a bad Tuesday. If not, the trade debate will only get louder, and it will be about him.