Jayson Tatum Reveals He Didn’t Want To Be Drafted By The Celtics

Jayson Tatum is one of the most exciting young stars in the league. He has emerged as a high-level contributor to a playoff team. That team is the Boston Celtics, who drafted Tatum with the third pick in the 2017 Draft. The Celtics traded down from the first pick to get Tatum.

However, JT never wanted to go to Boston as he told J.J. Redick on his podcast. “Phoenix had the fourth pick so I was in Phoenix. I went to go meet with the coach and see the facility and see the players and all that and I remember my agent called me. I think I had a flight that night to go back home.”

Tatum went on to talk about this call he had with his agent. His agent informed him of the Boston situation, but Tatum still wasn’t too sure of making the shift.

“‘He’s like ‘It’s not out yet but they’re going to trade the first pick and going to third and they want to see you work out again. I’m like no, I don’t wanna go to Boston because I want to go to Phoenix. It’s nice weather out here you know I’ll be able to play and average 20. Boston just went to the Eastern Conference Finals. I’m not going to play so I’m like no I don’t want to go to Boston.”

Tatum was eventually convinced by his college coach and one of the greatest coaches in American basketball history Mike Krzyzewski to go for the workout. Jayson then decided to go ahead with the move saying he couldn’t skip something Coach K asked him to do.

Jayson Tatum with the Boston Celtics

Jayson Tatum has taken a remarkable leap in his three NBA season. He became a first-time all-star this season. JT, along with Kemba Walker, has led the Celtics to the number three seed in the Eastern Conference. He has made a statistical jump each season, going from 13.9 points a game to 15.7 points a game to this season, where he is averaging 23.4 points a game.

People were worried that Tatum showed signs of stalling in his second season, but he has exploded this year. With Kemba being a more distributive player than Kyrie Irving, Tatum blossomed into a secondary star. Right now he seems to be the leader of Boston, especially with Walker nursing injuries. For now, the Boston-Tatum fit seems like a winner.