Not only is Jayson Tatum one of the stars with the brightest future in the NBA, he is also a current NBA champion and an Olympic gold medalist with Team USA. Nevertheless, the Celtics player feels as if he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves despite his achievements.
In a recent interview with The Washington Post’s Michael Lee, he admitted that he doesn’t see the appreciation he would hope he was earned over his career. “If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you’re just like, ‘This is what this Player A accomplished at 26,’ people would talk about [me] a lot differently,” he explained.
The Boston superstar also shared how he isn’t really interested in being a part of the debate over who is the next face of the league now that LeBron James’ retirement is around the corner. In his opinion, it is an entirely subjective matter.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković on Jayson Tatum:
“That guy is the best player on the best team in the NBA, and I don’t think that he gets enough credit for what he does on both ends of the floor…Amazing player. I’m a really, really big fan of his.”pic.twitter.com/Gjg4p4SZsJ
— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) February 26, 2025
“I don’t really want to insert myself in things that can be debated. Did he win a championship? Yes. Did he win gold medals? Yes. Was he always a part of winning seasons?” he added. “Was he first-team all-NBA? Those are things that you know are hard evidence. Yes or no. Face of the NBA? They can always debate. But it’s like, I check off all the boxes.”
The truth is, Tatum is only 26-year-old and his career so far is nothing short of stellar. He was fundamental in conquering the Celtics’ NBA-record 18th championship last year, but didn’t win the Finals MVP, which went to teammate Jaylen Brown.
His co-star later revealed that wished to share the honor with Jayson. “The hardest part of this job is you’re sitting at least a couple of guys who are world-class, some of the very best players on Earth, and on the one hand it makes no sense at all.
“On the other, I’m asking these guys to just commit to winning one game and then move on to the next one,” JB told the press last summer. “I have to do the same thing. And so I felt like last night those were the combinations that made the most sense.”
