Jayson Tatum silenced a lot of doubters during the 2023-24 NBA season.
He helped the Boston Celtics earn the league's best record at 64-18 and was voted first team All-NBA for the third straight campaign. Then, he led the Celtics in points, assists and rebounding in a dominant playoff run that saw the historic franchise win 16 of 19 games en route to an NBA Finals triumph over Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks.
After coming up just short of winning a title several times in his career, Tatum and the Celtics finally broke through. And no matter what happens the rest of his career, he will always be called a champion.
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What's the most satisfying part of winning a title? Tatum answered that question during the latest episode of the Old Man & the Three podcast.
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"For me, the most satisfying thing about winning is like -- in the social media age that we live in, and the TV (shows), there’s so many things they can debate," Tatum said.
"Is he the best player, is he top five? They can’t debate that I won a championship. It’s something that they can’t take from me. I sleep so much better at night. I honestly don't care what they say anymore. I did it. The thing they said I couldn't do, I did it. And they can't take that away."
The never-ending debates over whether Tatum can lead the Celtics to Banner 18 are finally over. Both he and Jaylen Brown proved they could step up in clutch moments on the sport's biggest stage. They did it during the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
Now the challenge for Tatum and the rest of the Celtics is to repeat as champions. No team has accomplished that feat since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.