Jayson Tatum was recently on the Club 520 Podcast (set to air tomorrow) hosted by former Celtics teammate and friend Jeff Teague.
On the episode, Tatum told his story about the draft process, the Celtics originally telling him he wouldn’t get picked, how he wanted to be a Los Angeles Laker, and his uncertainty of where he was going to end up.
Tatum starts out by talking about how there were two consensus top picks that were going to be taken ahead of him. “It was consensus that Markel [Fultz] was going #1, and when the Lakers got the 2nd pick it was Lonzo [Ball] going #2, so it was never a thought in my mind, like everyone had their mind made up.”
He then talked about his first workout with the Celtics and how someone in the front office from Boston told him they might not pick him.
They told Tatum, “it was one of the best workouts I’ve seen, good luck in your career, but you know we got the number 1 pick so we’re probably not gonna pick you.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25712714/800028150.jpg)
Tatum was disappointed with the Celtics response but that wasn’t the team he really wanted to play for. His childhood dream was to always play for the Lakers. However, even with the #2 pick, Tatum knew they weren’t going to take him.
“I grew up a Kobe fan so I always wanted to play for the Lakers. So, for them to have the #2 pick, and it wasn’t even a thought I was gonna get drafted, that was kinda devastating.” Tatum continued, “I never worked out for the Lakers. They never came to watch me workout.”
When the hosts brought up the Lakers story again later in the podcast, they were surprised about how locked in their decision was about taking Lonzo Ball 2nd overall.
Tatum responded with, “I was sick, too. I was so close to my dream and I might play for the Lakers. It was best case scenario. They’re mind was made up and they didn’t want to come and watch me workout or have me come in.”
On June 19th, 2017, three days before the draft, Celtics GM Danny Ainge would trade the 1st overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for the 3rd overall pick and another future pick.
When the Celtics made the deal, Tatum already had his mind set that he was going to the Phoenix Suns. “I wanted to go to Phoenix. Phoenix had the 4th pick. Earl Watson was the coach. I went out there. I was looking at houses. The weather was nice. They had a young team. I was like, ‘I’m gonna get to play.’”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25712715/800246906.jpg)
Three days before the draft, Coach K told Tatum that the Celtics wanted to see a second workout from him, but Tatum didn’t really want to do it. He told Coach K, “Coach, they just came off of an Eastern Conference Finals and they got a veteran team. Like, I’m probably not gonna play. I don’t want to go.” Coach K would then start to talk about how great of a coach Brad Stevens was and that convinced Tatum to attend the workout.
Even with the second workout with the Celtics, Tatum didn’t know where he was going to get drafted. “I didn’t know where I was getting drafted until they called my name and you know the rest is history, and it all worked out.”
Jayson Tatum would be picked 3rd overall by the Boston Celtics and make the All-Rookie team for the 2017-18 season. Alongside sophomore Jaylen Brown, Tatum would lead the Celtics to an Eastern Conference Finals run topped off by dunking on LeBron James at the height of his powers.
Going into his 8th season with the Celtics, Tatum would stack up an impressive resume, becoming a five-time All Star, four-time All-NBA selection, Eastern Conference Finals MVP, All Star Game MVP, and finally, NBA champion.
It’s crazy to think that if the Lakers weren’t so locked in on their decision or if the Celtics didn’t trade for the 3rd pick, Jayson Tatum could be finding success for another NBA franchise and the Celtics might not have a future.
