The Boston Celtics are certainly not living up to expectations season, sitting at just 22-22 and outside of the playoff picture altogether. That being said, there has been some criticism of their superstar duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Trade rumors have even surrounded the youngsters, but Celtics GM Brad Stevens has made it crystal clear: The organization doesn't plan on moving either player anytime soon.

This is what Stevens had to say about the pairing in a recent interview with The Athletic:

Well, I think, first of all, all that chatter is obviously when your team is .500 and you go back and forth and we haven’t found any real consistency, the obvious bit of attention usually goes to the highest-profile people and the best players. At the end of the day, I think they’re by far the least of my concerns. I’ve talked about this a ton, they are 23 and 25 and they are carrying new burdens for the Celtics. The burdens that really began last year and just continue to increase and that you just have to get used to as the best players in the building. So if you look at it kind of in totality of what those guys have done in their first five years and six years in the NBA, I think that there’s a reason to just take a step back and just remember how unique and good they are, and continue to try to find our best way as a group to help complement them. And they need to continue to improve, there’s no doubt about that. But they’ve shown no reason for anyone not to think they will.

For what it's worth, they're both putting up solid numbers. Tatum is averaging 25.5 points per night, while Brown is dropping 24.2 points per game. But as Stevens' said, the Celtics' problems go much further than these two.

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The supporting cast hasn't been great and as a whole, Boston lacks consistency on a nightly basis. It's literally night and day from game to game this season for Ime Udoka's squad. The number of absences they've had at times doesn't help in terms of finding chemistry, either.

The Celtics are expected to make some moves at the trade deadline, but it's pretty much set in stone now. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are staying put.