LeBron Correctly Said Jayson Tatum Is One Of The Truly Elite Players In The NBA

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

One of the more fascinating things to watch is how people discuss Jayson Tatum as a basketball player. Whenever he misses a late game shot, it becomes an entire segment for a week on every talking head network we have. National publications write gigantic think pieces questioning who he is as a player all around a singular shot, despite what the evidence actually suggests. He's slandered left and right, called a fraud or a superteam merchant. It's almost as if people bend themselves over backwards in an attempt to deny what the rest of us are seeing with our eyes.

In reality, he's arguably the least problematic star in the entire league. Not only does he play every night (unless Brad Stevens bribes him to rest), he only cares about basketball and hanging out with Deuce, and oh yeah, he also happens to be pretty fucking good. 

Why does this happen? The obvious answer is because of the team he plays for. Everyone knows that Celtics/Tatum slander = engagement/clicks/views etc. This isn't exclusive to Jayson Tatum, it's been the formula for many of the greats over the years. If you look to NBA Twitter, you'll see a lot of the same fanbases are the ones who lead this narrative, with all of them clearly upset that Tatum repeatedly beats them. 

And yet, for some reason, when it comes to the greats of the NBA talking about Jayson Tatum, it certainly tends to sound a lot different. Guys who would have a pretty good idea of what being one of the true elites looks like all seem to form the same conclusion when it comes to Tatum. He's one of the ones. Sometimes that's Kevin Durant, one of the greatest scorers to ever walk this Earth, who has had an up close look at the type of player Tatum is turning into

From 2021:

From 6 days ago:

Say whatever you want about KD, but when it comes to talking basketball, he guy knows his shit. I know all of his Twitter stuff gets most of the headlines, but if you actually listen to the podcasts/clips where KD can openly and honestly talk about basketball, it's great stuff.

But hey, that's just one all time great's opinion right? Well, about about another

If anyone could possibly understand the narrative and expectations under which Tatum plays under, it's probably that LeBron James fella. I'm going to ignore the whole "bag of potato chips" comment given what came before it, because that is certainly not true. Were they great deals for Brad? Absolutely. Life changing depending on what might happen. But Smart/Rob/Brogdon are all quality NBA starters when healthy.

Now, did I ever think I'd live in a world where LeBron James would be stanning a Celtic? I'll be honest, it has my brain in a bit of a pretzel. Is he trying to find his way to Boston at some point because he knows the Lakers are a cooked product? If that's his plan, it's weirdly working on me? OK, that might be a step too far.

The point is, year after year, on multiple occasions, we're seeing Jayson Tatum be stamped by the greatest players to ever do it. All this talk about who the next face of the league is going to be, and it's pretty obvious who the current GOATs think it's going to be/should be. I just find it very funny to look at how players like LeBron/KD talk about Tatum and then compare that to what we see in the media/on NBA Twitter. The ones who actually know what that life is like are telling us all 

"Yeah, this kid is the real deal"

and yet @LukaLover23875 and @EMVPIID28744 tell you he's a fraud because they're emotional Tatum keeps whooping that ass. We live in a world where players get more credit for losing early in the playoffs than a player gets for continuously making deep runs. Make that make sense. 

The Tatum narrative is also what makes this such a MASSIVE playoff run. Not only are the Celtics playing at a historic pace, but Tatum bringing a title to Boston is going to force A LOT of conversations that I'm not sure people are ready to have, both in terms of what it means in Celtics history and league history overall. He essentially becomes bulletproof. That's basically what's on the line this Spring, and if you listen to LeBron and KD, it seems like it's only a matter of time before it happens.

Now we pray.