Jayson Tatum and LeBron James are just two of the many NBA stars and superstars on Team USA who are hoping to bring back an Olympic gold medal to the United States in the upcoming summer games. Even though the latter plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and the former just won a world championship with the Boston Celtics, the two seem to have a good deal of mutual respect for each other.
In fact, when Tatum was 11 years old, he had an opportunity to get James’ autograph — although he wasn’t successful. He talked about what happened recently at that Cleveland Cavaliers road game back in the day.
Tatum’s father was very close with Larry Hughes, a then-teammate of James. The forward was hoping to get not only James’ autograph but also a picture of himself with the superstar. But James decided to leave, and Tatum went home empty-handed.
When Tatum told the story to James during a Team USA practice, James asked Tatum if it was why Tatum dunked on him during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
JT got his revenge on LeBron 😂 #USABMNT pic.twitter.com/9shcJ87uaM
— NBA (@NBA) July 16, 2024
In that Game 7, Tatum scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting and helped Boston establish an early lead. But James one-upped him with one of the greatest performances of his career: 35 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and two blocked shots. He logged exactly 48 minutes and nearly played to the point of exhaustion to lead his Cavaliers to an 87-79 victory.
Right now, Tatum and James are doing their patriotic duty on the same team. But James is no doubt hoping that early next summer, he will be battling Tatum’s NBA squad for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.