At the age of just 26, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has constructed an incredible résumé—six All-Star teams, four All-NBA teams and the 2024 NBA title.
However, Tatum is often absent from "face of the NBA" conversations. He may be the consensus best player on the league's best team, but a number of factors—such as his relative lack of a global profile and the Celtics' top-to-bottom strength—seem to work against him.
In a piece by Michael Lee of The Washington Post published Tuesday, Tatum bemoaned the lack of respect afforded to him.
"If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you’re just like, ‘This is what Player A accomplished at 26,’ people would talk about [me] a lot differently," Tatum said.
It's a compelling thought experiment that would flatter Tatum's body of work, which already gives him a 62% shot at the Hall of Fame by Basketball Reference's metrics (a larger number than, for instance, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic).
Despite these successes, Tatum's place in the NBA pantheon is yet to be determined.
“Did he win a championship? Yes. Did he win gold medals? Yes. Was he always a part of winning seasons? Was he first team all-NBA? Those are things that you know are hard evidence," Tatum said. "Face of the NBA? They can always debate. But it’s like, I check off all the boxes."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Celtics' Jayson Tatum Says He's Underappreciated Amid 'Face of the NBA' Debate.
