Despite leading the Celtics to the NBA Finals, Jayson Tatum still has one more championship-level leap to make
Jayson Tatum is quite accomplished for a 24-year-old.
The Boston Celtics forward has already made three NBA All-Star teams, earned First-Team All-NBA recognition and played in 74 postseason games, including a run to the NBA Finals earlier this year.
That means Tatum is in a position to reflect on some of the best moments of his young career, which he did Wednesday night in a Twitter Q&A session with fans.
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Celtics player spotlight: Jayson Tatum has one more big leap to make
First, Tatum was asked about his favorite players to compete against, and he responded with a star-studded list.
"Kd (Kevin Durant), bron (LeBron James), Melo (Carmelo Anthony), kawhi (Leonard) ….. basically best players at my position," Tatum wrote.
Tatum most recently outdueled Durant in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs, averaging 29.5 points and 7.3 assists over four games to power Boston's sweep of the Brooklyn Nets.
Tatum also battled James as a rookie in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals and put the then-Cleveland Cavaliers star on a poster with an incredible dunk in Game 7.
But when asked to compare his dunk on James to two other playoff highlights -- Game 6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks and Game 7 of the 2022 East Finals against the Miami Heat -- Tatum ranked it third.
Game 6 was the best postseason performance of Tatum's career; he dropped 46 points on the road in an elimination game against the defending champs to help the Celtics advance to a Game 7 and ultimately win the series.
Tatum's Game 7 against Miami wasn't too shabby either, as he tallied 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to help Boston punch its first ticket to the NBA Finals since 2010.
Tatum had an up-and-down Finals against the Golden State Warriors, who limited him to 36.7 percent shooting en route to a 4-2 series win. But the young superstar appears eager to bounce back in the 2022-23 season.
Tatum's newest teammates, Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari, should play a crucial role in helping him accomplish that goal by leading the Celtics back to the Finals.
