Jayson Tatum had three potential landing spots coming out of his first year at Duke and into the NBA, but he never thought he’d call the Boston Celtics home.
After playing one season for the Blue Devils, the then-freshman decided to forgo the remainder of his college career and enter the NBA draft. He worked out for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Sun and Celtics in the buildup to the draft.
But Tatum didn’t see any point in working out for Boston, per the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach. That was until Tatum received a phone call from Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I just talked to Brad Stevens,” Krzyzewski told him, per Himmelsbach. “I think they might trade their pick. I think you should go to Boston for a workout.”
Despite Tatum believing he wouldn’t be selected first in the draft, he still put forth his best performance for Boston. “It seemed like a waste of time, because everybody kept saying they were going to pick Markelle (Fultz) first,” Tatum told Himmelsbach. “I did good in the workout, but I don’t think I was engaged.”
Tatum may have thought he wasn’t engaged, but Himmelsbach said the C’s were watching him for years, “and they were smitten.”
Once it became known to Tatum’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, that the Celtics were indeed going to trade down in the draft, Tatum needed to go back to Boston to meet with Stevens. Himmelsbach said Tatum was dealing with a severe sinus infection, but he still went to Stevens’ home where his wife made them dinner.
“As Tatum sat at dinner, one part of this draft process still had him baffled,” Himmelsbach writes. “He asked Stevens why anybody would ever trade away the No. 1 overall pick.
He just said to me, ‘We feel like the guy we want we can still get at No. 3,’ ” Tatum said. “But he didn’t say it was me.”
And the rest is history.
Tatum helped Boston to 55 wins this season, the most in the Stevens era, while averaging 13.9 points-per-night. The rookie shot 43.4 percent from three-point range and set a new franchise rookie record for making 102 three-point shots on April 3rd.
And now, Tatum is in his first NBA playoff series with the Celtics up 2-0 on the Milwaukee Bucks.
