‘Live up to Your Role’: Former Celtics Champion Calls Out Jayson Tatum for Underperforming

The Boston Celtics aren’t at the best spot in the race to secure a place in the playoffs. Standing right at the edge of the eighth position in the Eastern Conference, they have a 25-26 record. Their superstar duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, are yet to show the potential they did when they carried the Celtics to the Conference Finals.

Although they were sent packing by the Miami Heat from there, it gave Boston hope that this would be a team that would raise their 18th banner. Unfortunately, it hasn’t seemed that way so far. Tatum is struggling to find his rhythm. Since Tatum has just signed his rookie extension this offseason, Perkins, who is a former Celtics champion, is taking this personally.

Kendrick Perkins calls out Jayson Tatum

The Boston Celtics, once again, had a poor start to their matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Their superstar, Tatum, could only score 5 points in the first quarter out of the 20 points he added to the scoreboard in total. In addition to that, he also completed only 7 of 17 shots and went 3-of-10 from the arc. One of Tatum’s strengths is his shot-making ability, and to see this was just disappointing.

Perkins felt the same way and expressed his concern on Twitter. He wrote, “Jayson Tatum, you got paid the big bucks! You have the body language and energy level of an underpaid player, and it’s hurtin the team. Time to step up and live up to your role, straight up. Carry on…”

Will the Boston Celtics make the playoffs this season?

The jury is still out on this question. The Celtics will need to show some consistency if they want to clinch a spot in the postseason. This means that Jayson, too, needs to buck up.

The highly competitive Eastern Conference won’t make it any easier. With elite teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, 76ers, and others, the Celtics have to push a lot harder to not get kicked off very early on. Other than Tatum, the Celtics are banking on Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker.

They are up against the New York Knicks next and will hope to get back to their winning ways. Can Jayson Tatum wake up and help the C’s up the conference ladder? Or is it too late already?

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