Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Reflects On ‘Great Relationship’ With Danny Ainge

Jayson Tatum and Danny Ainge are part of different organizations now, but the Celtics forward has a lot to thank Ainge for.

Boston will play the Jazz on Saturday night — the first time these two teams will meet since Ainge became the CEO of Utah. And even though the duo don’t see each other every day and don’t represent the same team, Tatum still will always be thankful for Ainge.

“We’ll always have a great relationship,” Tatum said, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “I’m very thankful for him. Essentially took a chance on a 19-year-old kid and drafted me and made my dream come true. I’ll always be thankful for that, regardless of wherever I’m at, wherever he’s at. I’ll always remember him in that way. He was kind of the guy that made the decision to help my dream come true. So I’m very thankful for that.”

Ainge traded the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 3 pick that was used to draft Tatum.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Tatum clearly still has all the respect in the world for Ainge, but he’ll try to help keep the Celtics in the win column when they take on the Jazz on Saturday night. Tipoff from Vivint Arena is set for 9 p.m. ET.