Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

It feels like it was just yesterday that Jayson Tatum was a 19 year old rookie who came to Boston with all the pressure in the world that he was going to be the missing piece to take this franchise back to the top of the NBA mountain. There’s always pressure on high lottery picks regardless of what team they end up on, but as we know, things will always be different when you’re drafted to the Celtics, and especially that era of Celtics.

Tatum and Brown were what the Celts traded KG/Pierce for. Their entire future was dependent on those two picks panning out, and given what Tatum was billed as when he got drafted, there was even more pressure that he lived up to that expectation. Little did we know what we would get when this moment happened

"I've been waiting for this since I was 3."

From growing up in St. Louis, to @DukeMBB, to the 2017 NBA Draft… Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) realizes his dreams are about to become a reality.

2020 #NBADraft: Wednesday November 18th at 8pm/et on ESPN pic.twitter.com/jRunTqHdGc

— NBA (@NBA) November 15, 2020

We weren’t just getting one of the best Celtics in the history of the franchise. We weren’t just getting a player that would help bring that elusive 18th banner to the rafters. We weren’t just getting one of the next Faces of the NBA.

We were getting, objectively, one of the best players in the history of the NBA.

As you know by now, people cannot help themselves but be very weird when it comes to Jayson Tatum. At this point it’s mostly media talking heads that were proven wrong when it comes to Tatum and opposing fanbases that have had to deal with Tatum destroying their favorite teams for nearly a decade now. It’s all rooted in jealousy, and unfortunately that’s never changing.

Which is why we will not be using emotion in this blog. Obviously, I’m just as slanted in the pro-Tatum camp as his haters are in the anti-Tatum camp. The difference of course, is I operate in reality in terms of what Tatum has accomplished on the basketball court. When you do that, my claim above isn’t crazy. It’s the truth,

Jayson Tatum has had a first ballot HOF career and one of the best starts to a career in NBA history…..all before turning 27 years old.

The resume? Undeniable

– NBA Champion

– 6x All Star

– 4x All NBA (soon to be 5 with 4 straight 1st teams)

– ECF MVP

– ASG MVP

– All Rookie 1st Team

– Most playoff points in NBA history before turning 27

– Most points ever in NBA history in a Game 7 (51)

– Only Celtic ever to average 30 in a season

– 5 ECF appearances

Oh, and ya know, this

JT's all-time ranks for players under 27:

☘️ No. 1 in threes made
☘️ 1 of 7 players with 13K pts
☘️ 1 of 2 players with 13K pts, 4K reb and 2K+ ast (LeBron)

HAPPY 27th JAYSON TATUM 🥳🎉 pic.twitter.com/3H01xe2B8b

— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2025

Call me crazy, but I’m of the belief that Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron are pretty good players. Those guys named Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan? Also decent.

Jayson Tatum could not play a single second for the rest of his career, and he’s a first ballot HOFer with that resume. Just think about that for a second. A lot of made about how Tatum entered a good situation, not realizing that Jayson Tatum is the situation. You don’t have this type of resume because an injured Gordon Hayward was on the roster. From Day 1, Tatum showed he was different. Shit, he’s 1 point behind Kareem for the most playoff points EVER by a rookie, which included a run that did not include Hayward OR Kyrie. He went toe to toe with LeBron in a Game 7 as a teenager.

Again, this shit is not normal. If it were, we’d be seeing it a whole lot more from a bunch of other players. And yet, there’s just one, and his name is Jayson Tatum.

When Tatum made waves (further proving he is in fact, the Face of The NBA) when he said if you took his name out and just looked at his resume he’d be talked about much differently, he wasn’t lying. Look at that shit! If that player was say, Luka Doncic, think of how that player is talked about. If that was say, Ant or SGA same thing. But a big problem of Jayson Tatum Derangement Syndrome is the fact that 99% of the discourse around him tries to pretend his entire career does not exist. It’s what makes it all so funny to watch, because the production and the resume is right there for the world to see. There is footage of him doing these things. You can’t deny it. You can try your best to pretend it doesn’t exist, but it does.

And you know the best part? We’re only at the early stages of his NBA prime years. Usually, NBA primes are around the age range 27-31. We’re only at the beginning of his “prime”! Think of how insane that is. He’s been this good, and has this type of resume all before the time in the NBA when players enter the best years of their career.

As someone who was born right at the tail end of Larry Bird’s career and didn’t really get to witness the true greatness of the Legend, for my generation the best Celtic we’ve ever seen was Paul Pierce. One of the best Celtics of all time, a NBA Top 75 member, and first ballot HOFer, I didn’t think I’d ever witness a player that would eventually pass Pierce……..but here we are with Jayson Tatum. At age 27.

I’m not sure what I thought was possible on that Draft night back in 2017, but I don’t think any of us in our wildest dreams expected to see THIS. Not just one of the best careers in Celtics history which is already cemented by a title, but one of the best careers in NBA history with Tatum doing shit that has only been reserved for the Gods of the league. The true best of the best, blue chip all time legends. Tatum’s been right on pace with all of them.

Rick Pitino famously said during the darkest time in Celtics franchise history that Larry Bird was not walking through that door. While that may be true, Jayson Tatum is well on his way to being pretty damn close.