FOX Sports Co-Hosts Make Tone-Deaf Jayson Tatum Injury Comments

Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum went down with a devastating ruptured Achilles tendon that required surgery in Game 4, and it elicited a distasteful stance from a few FOX Sports talk show hosts.

Mark Schlereth and Craig Carton, co-hosts of FS1’s “Breakfast Ball,” failed to read the room when the subject of Tatum’s injury and its severity was introduced to the conversation. Rather than responding to the topic with an appropriate and professional response, Schlereth and Carton bounced off-putting remarks and masked themselves as sleazy sports fans sharing an edgy take better suited behind closed doors.

“The fans will be like, ‘I want their best,’ I was like, ‘No, I don’t,'” Schlereth, a former NFL guard, said on FS1’s “Breakfast Ball” show. “I don’t want their best. I pray for all their guys to get hurt and all our guys to stay healthy, and I’m not an animal.”

Sure, it’s a take you’ll hear in any sports bar across the United States. But that doesn’t mean you say it out loud to an audience of thousands watching and listening in. It’s a garbage response that, even without ill intent, encourages sentiments alike when the stance itself is best left unsaid — especially less than 24 hours after Tatum suffered the injury.

Tatum collapsed with a non-contact injury at Madison Square Garden after dropping 42 points on the Knicks, in a Hercules-like effort to carry the Celtics by himself. Team trainers needed to assist Tatum since he was unable to walk on his own power, and wheelchaired the 27-year-old through the players’ tunnel. It was a sight that devastated the entire Boston bench, leaving teammates silent like crickets for the remainder of their 121-113 loss, and afterward in the locker room when speaking with reporters.

Everyone from Paul Pierce to those in New York’s locker room offered their thoughts and condolences to Tatum before the six-time All-Star underwent surgery.

Carton, a New York native and Knicks fan, went with a backhanded sympathy stance to wipe the surface before smudging it with an equally bad take.

“It was sad to watch one of the great players of the sport go down with is apparelty a torn Achillies, which knocks him out for the rest of the postseason, and the majority of next year, which sucks. Blah, blah, blah,” Carton said. “… But I ain’t crying about it. I’m not making excuses for it.”

Carton added: “Sucks being you, Boston and I don’t root for the injury, but I ain’t complaining about it.”

It’s one thing to applaud the Knicks and dance on the Celtics’ grave. That’s fine. But to mention Tatum’s injury with a reckless tone is just dumb. Recognize Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns or dump on coach Joe Mazzulla, but there’s no reason to bring up Tatum’s biggest career setback with celebratory undertones.

The Celtics announced Tatum underwent successful surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, although a timetable remains unknown. Tatum entered the playoffs having never missed a postseason contest throughout his eight-year career with the Celtics, but now the future is in question — and not only for Tatum. Boston’s (likely) second-round exit could prompt some major changes this offseason as Bill Chisholm and those involved in the $6.1 billion purchase of the Celtics begin stepping in.

Now trailing the Knicks, 3-1, it’ll be up to the rest of the title defenders to put forth a valiant effort without Tatum in Game 5 on Wednesday night.