Tag: Tatum

Jayson Tatum misses start of USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas

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Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy as he is introduced during the Boston Celtics Victory Event following their 2024 NBA Finals win at TD Garden on June 21, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images/AFP

LAS VEGAS — Jayson Tatum of the NBA champion Boston Celtics was not present Saturday for the start of the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball training camp, excused because of personal reasons.

Tatum is expected to join the team by Monday, when it will have the third of its four camp practices in Las Vegas, U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. The team plays its first exhibition on Wednesday against Canada, then leaves Thursday for nearly five weeks abroad — going first to Abu Dhabi for two games, then to London for two more games, then finally to Paris for the Olympics.

The 26-year-old Tatum — one of two Celtics on this U.S. team, along with Jrue Holiday — is seeking his second Olympic gold medal, after being part of the team that won at the Tokyo Games held three years ago.

READ: LeBron James says gold is all that matters at Paris Olympics

Tatum averaged 15.2 points for the Americans in those Olympics, second on the team behind Kevin Durant’s 20.7 points per game.

The Olympics will be the capper of a busy few months for Tatum. The five-time All-Star helped the Celtics win their first NBA title since 2008 last month — then started his offseason by agreeing to a league-record $314 million, five-year extension that could keep him in Boston through the 2029-30 season.

That contract was finalized Saturday, the first day that such a deal could be executed by NBA rule.

“Jayson is a special person and player, and it’s been a thrill for all of us to watch his entire journey in Boston,” Celtics President Brad Stevens said Saturday in a release distributed by the team.

READ: LeBron James says gold is all that matters at Paris Olympics

“He has embraced all that comes with being a great Celtic, and shows consistent and genuine care for every one of his teammates, coaches, and staff across the organization.

Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game this past season for the Celtics, and has averaged 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his first seven NBA seasons.

Tatum was in Las Vegas for most of the week prior to the start of the U.S. camp, hosting his own elite camp for select high school and college players. Fellow U.S. Olympian Bam Adebayo was also part of that camp, as were fellow NBA players Paolo Banchero and Chris Paul.



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Celtics’ Jayson Tatum agrees to 5-year, $314M extension

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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, left, celebrates next to Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, right, near the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after the Celtics won the NBA championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Jayson Tatum is the newest member of the NBA’s $300 million club.

The Boston Celtics star has agreed to a five-year, $314 million contract extension to remain with the reigning NBA champions, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.

The new pact will begin with the 2025-26 season and keep the five-time All-Star in Boston through 2029-30 season, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has not been announced.

The Athletic and ESPN were first to report the deal.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

When completed Tatum’s new, supermax contract will become the largest in NBA history, supplanting the one signed last offseason by teammate Jaylen Brown, when he inked a five-year deal that will pay him up to $304 million.

Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and shot 47% from the field in earning All-NBA first-team honors for the third consecutive season. Those numbers grew to 25 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game during a playoff run in which he eclipsed 30 points six times, including 31 in their championship-clinching Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

He will look to add to his hardware this summer as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team when it attempts to capture its fifth consecutive gold medal. Tatum previously won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum reflects on how being a dad changed his life, career

News of Tatum’s deal came on the same day that fellow Celtics starter Derrick White reportedly agreed to a four-year, $126 million extension. All five of Boston’s starters –- Tatum, Brown, White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — were already under contract for next season. With Tatum and White’s new agreements they now all could be together through at least the 2025-26 season.

The deal also came on the heels of the Celtics ownership group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, announcing its plans to sell all of its shares by 2028.

Barring any significant roster changes, Boston is expected to have a combined payroll and luxury tax that will exceed $400 million when Tatum’s contract takes effect.



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Brown, Tatum answer critics while leading Celtics to title

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Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (0) hugs Jaylen Brown during the second half in Game 5 of the NBA Basketball Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON — In 2008, the Celtics ended a 22-year NBA championship drought led by a Big 3.

Sixteen years later, they did it again following the play of a dynamic duo.

When Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were drafted third overall in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017, they were almost instantly branded with the hopes of a franchise that was desperately chasing its elusive 18th championship.

Along the way they’ve endured criticism about their individual play and questions about whether two players with similar skill sets could co-exist.

They answered those questions emphatically on Monday night, leading to Celtics to a 106-88 Game 5 NBA Finals victory over the Dallas Mavericks to capture the franchise’s 18th championship, setting it alone among NBA champions.

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

“Getting drafted, that’s something that you dream about. But this is at the top of the mountain,” Tatum said afterward. “To be able to say we did it, that we came together and we won a championship. Banner No. 18 has been hanging over our head for so many years. To know that we’re going to be engraved in history, and it still hasn’t like registered. I’m just still trying to process it all.”

Tatum and Brown grasped their first Larry O’Brien Trophy after 107 playoff games together, the most for any duo before winning a title.

It took longer than expected, but Tatum said it was part of a process he didn’t fully understand until celebrating postgame.

“Coming up short and having failures makes this moment that much better,” he said. “Because you know what it feels like to lose. You know what it feels like to be on the other side of this and be in the locker room and hearing the other team celebrating, hearing them celebrate on your home floor. That was devastating.”

Tatum finished with 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in Monday’s win. It is the third-most points scored by a Celtics player in a Finals clincher behind only John Havlicek (40 vs. Lakers, 1968) and Tommy Heinsohn (37 vs. Hawks, 1957).

Brown had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. But he earned Finals MVP honor on the heels of a 30-point performance in Game 3 that gave the Celtics a 3-0 lead.

READ: Jaylen Brown is Finals MVP as Celtics clinch historic NBA title

“It could have gone to Jayson,” Brown said of the MVP award. “Jayson, I can’t talk enough about his selflessness. I can’t talk enough about his attitude. It’s just how he approached not just this series or the Finals but just the playoffs in general. And we did it together as a team, and that was the most important thing.”

Brown and Tatum’s journey has included five trips to at least the conference finals together, as well as a 2022 loss in the Finals to the Golden State Warriors in a series that saw Boston relinquish a 2-1 lead.

Still, Celtics ownership continued to build around them, even through shakeups that included failed free agency acquisitions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, as well as changes to the core of the ’22 Finals teams that included trading longtime veteran Marcus Smart and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon.

It only intensified the microscope under Brown and Tatum, said veteran Al Horford, who has played alongside them for six of his 17 years in the NBA.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

He’s in awe of the maturity they’ve displayed at 27 and 26 years old, respectively.

“Those two guys continue to take steps forward. People all year criticizing them, all that expectation, all the pressure,” Horford said. “They did it. And they’ve done it at a young age. They led our group. I’m just very proud of those guys and to put everything aside and focus on winning.”

Brown said he’s most proud of how he and Tatum have grown together over the past seven seasons together.



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“We’ve been through a lot, the losses, the expectations,” Brown said. “The media have said all different types of things: We can’t play together, we are never going to win. We heard it all. But we just blocked it out, and we just kept going. I trusted him. He trusted me. And we did it together.”

Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

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Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics celebrates during the closing seconds of the fourth quarter of Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP

Jayson Tatum said the bitter sting of past postseason defeats powered the Boston Celtics to their record-breaking 18th NBA championship on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks.

The 26-year-old Celtics star produced a masterful 31-point performance as Boston completed a 4-1 series triumph with a resounding 106-88 victory.

The win couldn’t have been sweeter for Tatum, who just over a year ago was being derided as a playoff “choker” after the Celtics suffered a traumatic game seven home court defeat to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.

That shattering loss came a year after the Celtics had lost 4-2 to Golden State in the NBA Finals, with the Warriors clinching the series on Boston’s home court.

Tatum said those back-to-back defeats had left Boston with a “relentless” desire to finally close out a championship.

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

“It took being on the other side of this and losing in the Finals and being at literally the lowest point in a basketball career that you could be, to next year, to the following year, thinking that was going to be the time, and come up short again,” Tatum said.

“Coming up short and having failures makes this moment that much better. Because you know what it feels like to lose.

“You know what it feels like to be on the other side of this and be in the locker room and hearing the other team celebrating, hearing them celebrate on your home floor.

“That was devastating.”

Tatum though was all smiles on Monday after finally entering the NBA’s winner’s circle.

“It’s a hell of a feeling,” Tatum said. “I dreamed about what it would be like, but this is 10 times better.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who at 35 is the youngest head coach to win an NBA crown since Bill Russell in 1968 at the age of 34, said past disappointments had forged a determination to succeed amongst his players.

READ: Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla goes from Division 2 coach to NBA champion

“It really starts with them,” Mazzulla said. “You can’t have a philosophy or a way of playing if you don’t have a group of guys that are willing to buy into it and be disciplined.

“Quite honestly, this group of guys has been through so much in the league, they know what it takes.”

The Celtics win was also a personal triumph for Mazzulla, who was thrust into the head coaching role in the 2022-2023 season after the abrupt departure of predecessor Ime Udoka due to a sex scandal.

After last year’s playoff flop against Miami, several pundits called for Mazzulla to be fired.

The Boston coach however maintained that taking disappointment in his stride had been part of his and the Celtics success.



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“I think just having an understanding that praise and criticism are both just as dangerous,” Mazzulla said. “If you don’t handle them well, and I think we talked about that as a team this year, like winning is just as dangerous as losing if you don’t handle it well.

“I think our guys handled winning the right way by, whether we won or lost, we just moved on to the next game.”

Jayson Tatum reflects how being a dad changed his life, career

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FILE – Fans reach out to Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) as he leaves the court holding his son, Deuce, after the Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in a double overtime NBA basketball game, Feb. 13, 2020, in Boston. Tatum spent part of his Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16, 2024, thinking about how his son made him a better person — and probably a better basketball player, too. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

BOSTON — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum spent part of his Father’s Day thinking about how his son made him a better person — and probably a better basketball player, too.

Speaking at practice the day before Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Tatum acknowledged that he was “a little selfish” when he learned, as a teenager still in college with hopes of basketball stardom, that he would be a father.

“I’d be the first to say I wasn’t super-thrilled to find out I was going to be a dad, and quickly realized that it was the best thing that ever could have happened to me. There’s nothing better than being a dad,” Tatum said Sunday. “I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.”

READ: NBA Finals: Celtics take season’s worth of lessons in Game 5

Now 26 and in his seventh season, Tatum is a five-time All-Star who has led Boston to the Eastern Conference finals five times and to the NBA Finals twice. The Celtics lead the Dallas Mavericks 3-1 in the best-of-seven series; after missing their first chance to clinch a title on Friday, they have a second shot at an unprecedented 18th championship banner on Monday night.

Tatum had just turned 19 and was in his only year at Duke when he learned his girlfriend at the time was pregnant.

“I wasn’t ecstatic,” Tatum said Sunday. “I was a little selfish at that point because I knew that I was about to go chase my dream and be in the NBA. I felt like that was going to affect what people thought of me, affect where I went in the draft.”

READ: Celtics will win NBA title if Tatum, Brown focus on details, not emotions

Tatum was picked No. 3 overall by the Celtics, and Jayson Tatum Jr. – familiar around the Celtics as “Deuce” – was born in December of his father’s rookie season. Having a son helped the NBA star manage the expectations of his new wealth and fame, and the temptations that came along with them, too.

“It taught me a sense of responsibility,” Tatum said. “Nobody can help you or prepare you for what it’s like to be 19 and have millions of dollars.

“And I think — not that I think, I know — that having Deuce at that age grounded me. Because whatever decision I wanted to make, I had to make sure that he was taken care of. I couldn’t just up and go or do everything that some of my peers were doing because I had to go home and put him to bed. Or for Father’s Day weekend I was going out of town, or I had to skip out on this trip with my friends because it was my weekend with him.

“Not that it’s a sacrifice. I willingly would choose those things. But it has taught me a sense of responsibility — as well as just making the right decisions, knowing that there’s a 6-year-old ‘mini me’ essentially watching everything that I do and knowing that I have to be the best version of myself. I have to make the right decisions, because he’s always watching.”



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