“We did it. WE DID IIIIIIIIT!” Winning his first-ever NBA title back in June, these were some of the first words that came out of Jayson Tatum’s mouth. But for Boston fans and the rest of the community, it seemed like they had already seen this before, calling for the famous ‘wait a minute’ meme. Where? You ask. Well, 16 years ago when Kevin Garnett led the team in green to a Championship and yelled, “Anything’s possible. ANYTHING’S POSIBLEEE!” sure enough, that marked the beginning of JT’s Plagiarism World Tour as the hits just kept on coming.

And the Celt has become the talk of the town once again after the NBA world began mocking him for yet another act of plagiarism. Although JT is currently in Paris preparing for his first Olympics encounter, the Celtics star did a photoshoot with Sports Illustrated before leaving, to be the cover athlete of their 70 anniversary issue. Wearing a crisp black and white suit, Jayson Tatum was seen holding a glass of champagne, likely toasting to SI’s major milestone and his recent title win.

But as soon as this cover hit the media, it brought more plagiarism accusations his way, as the pose was eerily similar to the iconic Leonardo DiCaprio meme from the 2013 film ‘The Great Gatsby’. Just like Tatum on the cover, DiCaprio’s character also held a glass of champagne in his hand, wearing similar clothing, and his head slightly tilted with a smile. Citing past instances, it’s been assumed the Celtics star was going for an identical vibe. Moreover, he has been on the receiving end of such accusations from the moment he became an NBA champion.

Jayson Tatum is in the line of free fire from the community, being accused of having “zero aura”

Well, you do something out of the ordinary, and the internet notices quickly. That’s exactly what happened with this latest Sports Illustrated cover as fans began bombarding him with accusations, yet again. “Jayson Tatum not beating the allegations,” a netizen wrote, as now even the people have lost count of how many times the superstar has allegedly copied other basketball legends.

Another fan mockingly nominated him, saying, “He’s in discussions for the best UNORIGINAL ATHLETE OF ALL TIME”. Apart from the Kevin Garnett impersonation after defeating the Mavs, JT also took a page out of Steph Curry’s book as he was accused of stealing the Baby-Faced Assassin’s quote after he won his 4 title two years ago, “What they gonna say now? What they gonna say now?”

With “aura” being the buzzword of this year, a fan claimed that JT had “ZERO aura”, likely because of his multiple plagiarism attempts. At one point during the title celebration, Tatum even copied the words from rapper Kanye West’s 2005 Grammy-winning speech, “Everybody was wondering what would happen if we didn’t win. I guess we’ll never know.” To cap it all off, some from the community even accused him of imitating MJ and Kobe’s historic images after winning their respective championships.

While most fans continued accusing Jayson Tatum of plagiarism, one fan handed the Celtics star the ‘troll’ status, saying, “He’s gotta be trolling now,” as might be doing it on purpose to irritate his critics. Surely, he knows by now what the NBA world has been saying about him. Maybe the SI cover was his way of steering into the skid and embracing the plagiarism narrative wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile, a netizen gave Tatum’s critics a harsh reality check, giving the NBA winner the benefit of the doubt. The individual wrote, “What makes you think Tatum chose to do this and wasn’t told how to pose for the photo? Y’all are soooo desperate at this point”.

While it might not be fair to accuse him without complete knowledge, whatever the case is, Jayson Tatum’s actions ever since he earned his first ring have earned him a bad, bad reputation for being unoriginal and that case was only made stronger by his latest impersonation of the Hollywood star.

What are your thoughts on this entire fiasco? Let us know in the comments below.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.