What Does The 2024 NBA Championship Do For Jayson Tatum’s Career And Legacy?
A lot, apparently
Now that former Duke star Jayson Tatum has, to paraphrase the old Doors song, broke on through to the other side with a championship, what does that do for his legacy?
According to this article, which cites Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, it changes everything: “You’ve got to think he’s got a decade left, maybe. I mean, if he takes care of himself, which he’s in remarkable shape and always been in great condition. He’s gonna put up the numbers. I mean, he’s gonna challenge (John) Havlicek’s record for scoring and then we’ll discuss whether this team can win multiple titles, but this puts him on a different plane. I mean, it gets his number retired obviously, him and Jaylen (Brown). Like his whole image is just different now.”
Colleague Chris Forsberg Boston took it a step further: “I think because he’s working with such a long span here, I actually think he will get into that conversation [with Bill Russell and Larry Bird]. I know that sounds crazy now, but you have to give the benefit of time and we can’t appreciate right now. Like, Tatum is still on the ascent. We’ve only scratched the surface with what he’s capable of doing. I know it sounds preposterous.
“And [Larry] Bird, we just never had the same runway to show what he could have done and we could always have to extrapolate out the numbers because he got injured and he never had it. And I get three titles sets him apart from everybody, but I think Tatum has a runway here. Like, you unequivocally just can’t dismiss that if him and Jaylen go on this massive run of a modern dynasty that he won’t land amongst those stars.”
That’s pretty stunning, but impossible? No.
Boston is in a great situation. They have, or should have, Tatum and Brown locked up for the rest of their careers. They have a superb GM in Brad Stevens, who is capable of making bold moves to keep things humming, as we saw this year when he acquired Jrue Holiday and Kristap Porzingis.
And that brings something to mind: there is a criticism that Boston won because of key injuries to other teams. Okay, but if that is a factor then so was missing Porzingis for most of the playoffs. Somehow that doesn't seem to factor in to that criticism.
Back to Tatum though.
His numbers have been superb for his entire career and for the postseason, we think he’s led the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists. The only other players to ever do that are Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Boston great Bird.
You have to think that Red Auerbach and Bill Russell would be happy to see Boston in such a strong situation.
Not Magic Johnson though. He tweeted this after the game Monday night, which just goes to show you: rivalries die hard. It would have helped the Lakers too if they hadn't taken Lonzo Ball at #2 in the 2017 draft, leaving Tatum for the Celtics at #3.