Jayson Tatum

Jayson Christopher Tatum Sr. ( TAY-təm; born March 3, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a McDonald's All-American in high school in Missouri and played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. Tatum was selected by the Boston Celtics with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft and was voted to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in the 2018 season. Tatum won the inaugural NBA Eastern Conference finals MVP in 2022, and won his first title in the 2024 NBA Finals.

Nicknamed "the Anomaly", Tatum is a six-time NBA All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection (including four first-team selections). He and Jaylen Brown make up the Celtics' "Jays" duo. In 2024, Tatum led the team to a league-best 64 wins and a championship in the NBA Finals. Tatum also won a gold medal with the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Olympic teams. He holds the records for most points scored in an NBA All-Star Game (55), most points scored in a Game 7 of any NBA playoffs series (51), and most points scored in the NBA playoffs at his age.

High school career

Tatum attended Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He was inspired by Bradley Beal, a senior at Chaminade, while Tatum was in his first year there as a seventh grader. Tatum struggled with the school's college preparatory curriculum, and his classmates were substantially more privileged than he was. Tatum played alongside Tyler Cook and was in gym class with classmate Matthew Tkachuk. Tatum wanted to play under his father, the head basketball coach at nearby Christian Brothers College High School, but his mother preferred Chaminade so Tatum would still work hard on academics.

As a freshman, Tatum averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and was named 2013 Metro Catholic Conference (MCC) Co-Player of the Year, leading the Red Devils to both MCC and Missouri District 2 crowns.

As a sophomore in 2014, Tatum averaged 26.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.

As a junior, Tatum averaged 25.9 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game, while earning Second-team Naismith Trophy All-American honors. In the summer of 2015, he joined the St. Louis Eagles Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team on the highly competitive Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) Circuit. On July 11, the Eagles narrowly defeated future Duke teammate Harry Giles and Team CP3 74–73 in the Nike Peach Jam Semi-Finals with a game-winning buzzer-beater to advance to the championship game, where Tatum finished the game with 28 points and five rebounds. The next day, he had 24 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in a 104–77 loss to the Georgia Stars and future Duke one-and-done Wendell Carter Jr. in the 2015 Nike Peach Jam championship game. During the Circuit, Tatum led the EYBL in scoring with 26.5 points to go along with 9.5 rebounds per game.

Before his senior year, Tatum made a verbal commitment to Duke University over North Carolina, Kentucky, and Saint Louis University.

As a senior in 2015–16, Tatum averaged 29.6 points and 9.1 rebounds and posted six 40-point games while leading Chaminade to its second Missouri Class 5A state championship. Among his senior year highlights were a 40-point, 17-rebound game in a 76–57 victory over Bentonville High School and its star Malik Monk, a 46-point game against Huntington Prep and Miles Bridges at the Cancer Research Classic, and a final 40-point game against DeMatha Catholic High School and future #1 NBA draft pick Markelle Fultz at the 2016 HoopHall Classic.

Tatum was selected to the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game on March 30, 2016, at the United Center in Chicago, leading the East Team in scoring with 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a 114–107 loss. In April, Tatum played in the Jordan Brand Classic, where he scored 18 points in a 131–117 victory over the West team. Tatum was named the 2016 Gatorade National Player of the Year.

Recruiting

Tatum was rated a five-star recruit and was ranked as the No. 3 overall recruit behind Harry Giles and Josh Jackson and No. 2 small forward in the 2016 high school class.

College career

Tatum missed the first eight games of the 2016–17 season due to a foot injury. On December 3, 2016, in his Duke debut, Tatum recorded 10 points in a 94–55 blowout victory over Maine. Three days later, he had 22 points and eight rebounds in an 84–74 victory over Florida at the Jimmy V Classic. On December 12, he was named ACC freshman of the week. On December 21, Tatum had 18 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks in a 72–61 victory over Elon. On January 4, 2017, he scored 19 points in a 110–57 blowout victory over Georgia Tech. Three days later, Tatum recorded 22 points and six rebounds in a 93–82 victory over Boston College. On January 21, he scored 14 points in a 70–58 victory over Miami. On February 13, Tatum earned his second ACC freshman of the week honor. Two days later, Tatum recorded a season-high 28 points and eight rebounds in a 65–55 victory over Virginia. On February 18, Tatum scored 19 points in a 99–94 victory over Wake Forest. As the fifth seed in the ACC tournament, Duke defeated Clemson in the second round and Louisville in the quarterfinals. On March 10, Tatum scored 24 points in a 93–83 victory over rival North Carolina in the semifinals. The next day, he tallied 19 points and eight rebounds in a 75–69 victory over Notre Dame, earning the Blue Devils the ACC tournament championship.

Tatum was named to the All-ACC Tournament team after averaging 22.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game for the Blue Devils. As the #2-seed entering the NCAA tournament, Duke defeated Troy in the first round but exited early in a second-round loss against South Carolina. Tatum averaged 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in the tournament. In his freshman season for Duke in 2016–17, Tatum played 29 games and averaged 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He was named to the ACC All-Freshman team and a third-team All-ACC selection. Tatum had a successful freshman season at Duke, ranking fourth in made free throws (118), fifth in rebounds, and fourth in free throw percentage (.849).

At the end of his freshman season, Tatum opted to enter the 2017 NBA draft as a one-and-done, where he was projected as a first-round selection.

Professional career

Boston Celtics (2017–present)

2017–18 season: Rookie season

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge traded the team's No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft to the Philadelphia 76ers for the third overall pick, which the Celtics used to select Jayson Tatum. Tatum was the Celtics' second consecutive No. 3 pick for a small forward, following Jaylen Brown in 2016, whom Tatum formed a duo with. During the 2017 NBA Summer League event in Utah, Tatum averaged 18.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 2.0 assists in nearly 33 minutes of action. Later, in Las Vegas, Tatum produced similar results, averaging 17.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 0.8 blocks in nearly 32 minutes of action in three games. Tatum was named to the All-Summer League Second Team alongside Bryn Forbes, Cheick Diallo, Wayne Selden Jr., and Kyle Kuzma.

In his NBA debut on October 17, 2017, Tatum recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds as the team's starting power forward during the season-opening 102–99 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He then recorded a season-high 24 points in a 110–89 victory over the New York Knicks on October 24. Tatum was named the Eastern Conference's Rookie of the Month for December 2017.

The Celtics finished the season with a 55–27 record, entering the 2018 NBA playoffs as the #2-seed in the Eastern Conference. On April 15, 2018, in Game 1 of the first-round series against the #7-seed Milwaukee Bucks, Tatum recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 113–107 overtime victory. Exactly a week later in Game 4, he broke his playoff-high with 21 points, and then broke it again on April 26 in Game 6 with 22. Two days later, the Celtics defeated the Bucks in Game 7 by a score of 112–96, with Tatum scoring 20 points.

On April 30, in Game 1 of the second-round series against the #3-seed Philadelphia 76ers, Tatum had a then career-high 28 points during a 117–101 victory, becoming the first Celtics rookie to score 25 or more points in a playoff game since Larry Bird during the 1980 NBA playoffs, also against the 76ers. Three days later, after posting 21 points in a Game 2 108–103 victory, Tatum became the youngest player ever to score at least 20 points in four straight playoff games at the age of 20 years, 61 days, surpassing Kobe Bryant who accomplished that feat during the 1999 NBA playoffs at the age of 20 years, 272 days. After leading the Celtics with 24 points in a Game 3 101–98 overtime victory in Philadelphia on May 5, Tatum became the first Celtics rookie to score 20 points in five straight playoff games. Bird held the previous record of four. At the end of his playoff run, Tatum joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only rookies in playoff history to record 10 games of 20 or more points scored during their first playoff runs; LeBron James praised Tatum's work, stating: "He's built for stardom."

On May 22, 2018, Tatum was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team (First Team).