Jayson Tatum names surprising player as Celtics biggest trash talker

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics of today aren't exactly known for their trash talk. So, when Celtics star Jayson Tatum was asked who participated in that kind of in-game teasing the most, he paused for a bit to think. He then provided Celtics teammate Derrick White — who was hosting "The White Noise Podcast" with Tatum on as his special guest — with a surprising name: Ron Harper Jr. When White poses this question to other Celtics, they usually respond with guys like point guard Payton Pritchard or star guard Jaylen Brown. However, Tatum said it was Harper Jr., who spent his first official year with the Celtics this season and played well enough to earn himself a standard contract. "We don't really have trash talkers on our team, but Ron always has something to say," Tatum explained. White sounded surprised by Tatum's answer, but he liked it before discussing how Harper Jr. is very knowledgeable about sports (which probably gives him some extra ammo to use against his teammates). "Ron's always in the know," White said. "The game just ended and he’s like, ‘Yo, did you see Geno (Auriemma) and Dawn Staley?’ I’m like, ‘We were just playing, how do you already know this?’” The postgame beef between college head coaches Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley occurred on April 3, so Harper Jr. would've brought that up after the Celtics just got finished demolishing the Milwaukee Bucks, 133-101, that same night. Harper Jr. earned 5 minutes in that blowout win, which was almost the same amount of playing time he received during another beatdown on Sunday afternoon, when the Celtics crushed the Philadelphia 76ers 123-91 in Game 1 of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.