Jayson Tatum seemed to have everything in his bag except for one thing! He is part of a legacy franchise and has a ring against his name while consistently making the All-NBA First Team. But a large section of the NBA world still considered him to not have it to place him among the greats. Whatever it actually meant. Notably, the criticism grew multifold after he missed out on the 2024 Finals MVP. Amid this equation, the Boston Celtics superstar’s longtime coach delivered a confident counterattack.

JT is approaching his 27th birthday next week, and it’s a great time to look back at his 8-season-long career. If you ask an average NBA fan to say if Tatum was one of the greatest ballers of all time, the fan might scratch his head. They might think that it’s too early to crown the Celts forward with that title.

Well, we don’t blame him. What do you expect the fan to think after Coach Steve Kerr sidelined him for most time at Team USA’s Paris Olympics run weeks after his first NBA Championship? Anyway, Drew Hansen, the superstar’s basketball trainer since 13, packed a punch and placed him right among the greats. Ironically, it all happened accidentally. After NBA Central, a well-known basketball page misquoted him, Hansen took it to X and cleared it.

Initially, Hansen had spoken highly of Jayson Tatum‘s resume and NBA Central picked it up and spun it as if he had compared it with Michael Jordan’s resume. Clarifying it, the trainer wrote, “Didn’t mention MJ one time in this interview BUT it’s true that JT has a HOF resume at 26, it’s also true that he hasn’t reached his prime yet & it’s true that I believe he’ll go down as one of the best ever.” 

Hmm… Instead, he could have just compared JT’s resume with MJ’s. Jokes apart. Hansen has put the superstar on a pedestal, calling him a HoF candidate while he hasn’t reached his prime. It might seem a little outrageous, but let’s take a step back and introspect. We have something that Tatum recently addressed and it could change some perspectives.

Jayson Tatum silences naysayers with a confident statement

The NBA world is at a crossroads. Superstars like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant have a few seasons left in their tank and it’s almost time to find the next face of the league. It’s already a debate between players like Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Edwards. From the surface level, it might seem like a fair debate, but JT has superseded the other two by a huge margin.

Let me list a few jewels from Tatum’s resume. The 26-year-old has reached 2 Finals, 5 conference Finals, and All-NBA First Team three times in a row. Most importantly, he has never been part of a losing record season. Nevertheless, some might still feel that Tatum has something missing to sweep the title. Well, JT knows what’s missing.

Speaking of it in a recent Washington Post interview, he said, ” If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you’re just like, ‘This is what this Player A accomplished at 26,’ people would talk about me a lot differently.” What could be the reason behind this perspective? Did the media play a role in it?

At the same time, JT made one thing very clear, saying, “I don’t really want to insert myself in things that can be debated.” But it is what it is. Why do you think he is underrated? Let us know in the comments.