Jayson Tatum‘s been on some pretty good teams during his basketball life, from his one year at Duke to the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics.
He’s in his ninth NBA season now, but one team stands out as being the most fun to play for.
Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn’t the one that won the NBA Finals, or even the one that lost in the NBA Finals.
It was his first NBA team: the 2017-18 Celtics.
“That might have been the most fun basketball team I’ve ever been a part of,” Tatum told the Morris twins on “The Morris Code” podcast.
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Tatum explained that he’d been watching the NBA playoffs his whole life, so getting to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against LeBron James as a rookie was a dream come true for him.
While Boston came up short against James’ Cavaliers, the Celtics were loaded that year. They had Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Morris and Greg Monroe.
Despite losing Hayward to a season-ending injury in the season opener, Brad Stevens led them to 55 wins and the second-best record in the East. Eight players averaged at least 10 points per game, highlighting the team’s depth and selfless style of basketball.
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Boston didn’t win a championship that year, but the team’s success and perseverance still made it a season to remember.