Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Would Like To See This NBA Playoffs Change

Does the NBA have a playoff length issue on its hands? Well, according to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, the league indeed does.

Aside from making history with a 55-point performance, debuting his signature sneaker, winning All-Star Game MVP and meeting his childhood hero, Tatum expressed his feeling on the subject at NBA All-Star weekend. Along with other fellow All-Stars, Tatum participated in a player poll that featured several unique questions. This poll covered a range from asking to name the league’s best trash-talker to what player you’d enjoy watching win an NBA Finals.

And with the poll containing one question about playoff series length and whether the league should go back to five-game series, Tatum expressed his true feelings on the matter.

“Playoffs are long, right? Four seven-game series, that’s a lot,” Tatum said, according to The Athletic. “So if I had a vote, yeah, I’d go back to five.”

Tatum wasn’t the only one who stood on that side of the debate, as Paul George and Jordan Clarkson agreed. But 12 other players including Nikola Jokic, Jarren Jackson Jr. and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, all disagreed and feel as though the current seven-game setup is just fine as is.

Perhaps last season’s NBA Finals run with the Celtics presented a draining reality for Tatum. The 24-year-old played 40.7 minutes per contest in the NBA Finals and 41 minutes on average over the course of 24 playoff games last season. This led to noticeable fatigue along with a lingering wrist injury, which Tatum has cited on multiple occasions this season.

For now, Tatum and the opposers will have to live with the current setting of the NBA playoffs.