“You can close your eyes and there’s images with stars. Close your eyes now and do it with Tatum. I don’t see anything! 26 a night. I don’t see anything.” Colin Cowherd felt the Celtics star lacked something in comparison to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson. The Fox analyst made it clear that the 26-year-old was not in contention for the face of the league conversation. But his recent performance might turn some naysayers.

It was the Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who watched the clash of the top two teams of the Eastern Conference. “The Cavaliers beat the Celtics 123-116 in tonight’s game, which was a game of halfs. Jayson Tatum did something that no other NBA player in history has done scoring 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists in the first half but the second half was all Donovan Mitchell!” The #0 began with an explosion right from the get-go.

In the first quarter of Friday’s battle, the 6x All-Star scored 18 points and ended the half with 30 points. Thus made history by becoming the first player in the play-by-play era to record that stat line in the first half. This performance of his had another NBA icon cheering for him. “Mannnnnnnnn… the boy JT ain’t playing no games tonight 😤😤🫡💯. STATEMENT GAME.🫡💯.”On his Instagram, Kevin Garnett appreciated the Beantown forward. But KG wasn’t done yet. 

The Big Ticket added a few more sentences. “Straight binessss 🫣💯. THAT’S HOW U LET EM KNO💯🫡💯.” The last sentence pretty much confirms Kevin Garnett backing Jayson Tatum. Even Gilbert Arenas backed the Celtics star amidst the negativity. “He is the face because we pretend his resume is not his resume. So we want to tear him down.” But there are more admirers of the Duke Alum.

Heat legend joins Jayson Tatum hype train

Even before the season started, the Celtics forward didn’t get enough minutes to prove to be a differentiator for the USA Team. Even though he was part of the gold-winning squad, fans were not happy the way he was benched for crucial games. Carmelo Anthony was one such believer who was on the sidelines during the Paris 2024 games. Another former star who had duties in France was none other than the Heat icon Dwyane Wade.

“They swagger, they have lost nothing, and they also you a never seen a championship team come back with a chip on their shoulder. They actually came back with a little chip.” On his podcast, the 3x NBA champion picked the Celtics as his favorite to win. “They do, and it’s because Jayson Tatum got a chip on his shoulder.” Plus emphasized the importance and mentality of Tatum during this season.

Even though Colin Cowherd doesn’t feel that the 6x All-Star is the face of the league, his performance screams something else. Despite the loss to the Cavs, the Celtics rely on Tatum, and he continues to have another season dominating the MVP conversation.