Jayson Tatum ignited the fans’ wrath once again. Not long ago, when he lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy, fans weren’t happy for a particular reason. It’s no doubt that the Boston Celtics deserved the trophy for their dominant explosion in the 2023-24 season. But JT’s celebrations reminded the NBA world of the superstars from yesteryears. Hence, he was accused of plagiarizing their celebrations. A few days later, the allegation popped up again at the Team USA training camp as he paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant.

The Celtics star forward opted to don the #10 jersey for the Olympics, which was earlier donned by the Lakers legend to pay tribute. Speaking of it to the press, Tatum said, “Nothing short of an honor to be able to represent this uniform and wear No. 10. Anyone, who remotely knows me, knows how much influence he had on me as a kid, inspiring me to reach my goals. It’s definitely not something I take for granted or lightly.”

While it seemed like a fan’s genuine tribute to their idol, the NBA world wasn’t taking it lightly. An individual, frustrated with Tatum’s act, wrote, “Leave Kobe alone! Geez.” Moreover, this isn’t the first time when Jayson Tatum paid tribute to Mamba. He wore the #24 armband in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 inspired by the legend and took the team to his maiden NBA Finals.

Speaking of the inspiration, he said, ” This is the biggest game of my career thus far, and I wanted to wear that armband to honor him and kind of share that moment in a way.” Even though he received a lot of appreciation for his gesture, it slowly turned into hate in the coming months. Especially, after the 2024 NBA Finals, the community accused Tatum of forcefully recreating iconic trophy celebration moments.

Notably, when the 26-year-old clicked a picture with the trophy leaning on the wall, it immediately triggered a call back to Kobe’s iconic locker room pose with the trophy.

Fans go after Jayson Tatum, shockingly terming him the “fake Mamba”

It’s plain and simple that the NBA world has had enough of Jayson Tatum recalling Kobe Bryant. Even though JT genuinely paid tribute to the legend, it seems to have stopped having a positive effect on fan’s minds. A fan, reacting to the tribute, described Tatum as a “fake mamba guy”. This person has definitely gone a little overboard with his comment, taking a shot at the reigning NBA champ.

On the other hand, another netizen found a solution and made an appeal to Team USA management. The fan wrote, “No one else should wear that number @usabasketball,” as he also tagged the official social media handle. It’s a practice in the NBA and other sports leagues to retire jersey numbers of legends as a mark of respect. On December 18, 2017, the Lakers’ management retired #8 & #24 to honor Mamba. Similarly, Team USA could also retire the #10 that Kobe wore and brought two gold medals to the nation. 

It’s quite hard to keep the fans away from using pop culture references to add humor to their criticism. This person certainly has brought out his exact emotion with the famous Chris Tucker facepalm GIF. Another fan attempted to take away Tatum’s relevance by discrediting his win. They wrote,

“Dude won one ring because the entire east was hurt and thinks he’s him.” 

There is no denying that the teams Boston faced had injured players like

Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, and Tyrese Haliburton. At the same time, the Celts also missed their star center Kristaps Porzingis for a major portion of the postseason. Nevertheless, the team faced a healthy Dallas Mavericks in the Finals.

However, the comments under Tatum’s video have now made it very clear that fans were definitely not impressed with JT’s Kobe tribute anymore. Do you think the player will react to the fan fury? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Before you go, do not forget to check out Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, to open up about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud. Keep checking this space for more such updates.