Jayson Tatum turned 25 years old yesterday, and that presents a natural milestone to take stock of his career to date. Celtics play-by-play man Sean Grande recently made the claim that Tatum has built one of the best NBA resumes of all time in terms of his accomplishments and production prior to turning 25 years old, and I wholeheartedly agree with him.
Tatum has scored the 7th most regular season points in history under the age of 25.
Under Age 25 Total Regular Season Points
| Player | PTS | GP | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PTS | GP | PPG |
| LeBron James | 13,927 | 505 | 27.6 |
| Kevin Durant | 12,258 | 461 | 26.6 |
| Carmelo Anthony | 10,768 | 445 | 24.2 |
| Kobe Bryant | 10,658 | 496 | 21.5 |
| Tracy McGrady | 10,420 | 487 | 21.4 |
| Devin Booker | 9,481 | 413 | 23 |
| Jayson Tatum | 9,429 | 424 | 22.2 |
| Giannis Antetokoumpo | 9,427 | 487 | 19.4 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 9,208 | 341 | 27 |
| Anthony Davis | 9,125 | 393 | 23.2 |
The players ahead of him are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and Devin Booker. You may have heard of them.
Meanwhile, Tatum has scored the 3rd most playoff points in history under the age of 25.
Under Age 25 Total Playoff Points
| Player | PTS | GP | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PTS | GP | PPG |
| Kobe Bryant | 2,155 | 97 | 22.2 |
| LeBron James | 1,761 | 60 | 29.4 |
| Jayson Tatum | 1,693 | 74 | 22.9 |
| Tony Parker | 1,547 | 90 | 17.2 |
| Kevin Durant | 1,546 | 54 | 28.6 |
| Dwyane Wade | 1,272 | 50 | 25.4 |
| Magic Johnson | 1,237 | 69 | 17.9 |
| Kawhi Leonard | 1,100 | 75 | 14.7 |
| Jerry West | 1,046 | 38 | 27.5 |
| Russell Westbrook | 1,037 | 45 | 23 |
The only two players who have scored more playoff points by their 25th birthday are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, both of whom had an extra season to operate as they went straight from high school to the pros while Tatum made a pitstop at Duke. To be fair, other great players like Larry Bird and Tim Duncan would be on these lists as well if they had spent less time in college and entered the NBA in their teens.
One of the reasons Tatum has scored so many playoff points is because he has played in 74 playoff games, the 4th highest total of all time under the age of 25. He is behind only Kobe Bryant (97 games), Tony Parker (90), and Kawhi Leonard (75).
To play in a lot of playoff games, you need to win a lot of playoff games. Tatum’s career playoff record stands at 41-33. A championship title, of course, has eluded him to this point, but he has advanced to the Finals once and the Conference Finals on two other occasions.
Kobe, Parker, and Kawhi all had the advantage of playing alongside a generational big man (Shaq and Duncan respectively) during their under-25 title seasons. Meanwhile, Tatum has been the leading man on virtually all of his playoff runs, averaging the most points per game on the team during every playoffs of his career other than his 2nd season.
Of course, both Tatum and Celtics fans know that he eventually needs to validate his impressive resume with a title (or titles) to truly cement his growing legacy as one of the game’s great players. When asked to name the best players in the game, Tatum has consistently pointed to past champs like LeBron, Durant, and Giannis as having reached a level he has not yet attained.
There is no doubt that Tatum is building a resume that places him in the company of NBA royalty. Ultimately, his ability to punch through at the highest levels for championship titles (as well as maintain health and longevity) will determine whether or not he is remembered as a unique talent and fabulous scorer like a Carmelo or T-Mac or whether he can truly shoulder his way into the conversation with “one-name” giants of the game like LeBron, Durant, and Kobe.
As we wait to see how his career plays out over the next decade-plus (hopefully in Celtics green the entire time), let’s appreciate that the Celtics have drafted and developed one of the great talents in the game’s history.
