Former Duke basketball star [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] has heard all the noise. Believe that.
The former Blue Devil won his first NBA title on Monday night, a Game 5 victory over Dallas that saw Tatum drop 31 points and deal 11 assists for the clinching win.
The third overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft set a few historic marks en route to the championship, too. He passed Kobe Bryant for the most playoff points before his 27th birthday, and he led the Celtics in points, rebounds, and assists.
Only five other players in NBA history accomplished that same trifecta while winning a championship, putting Tatum in the company of names like LeBron James and fellow Celtics legend Larry Bird.
For a player regularly placed in the crosshairs of social media and talk show discourse, especially after a 12/38 performance from the floor in the first two games of the Finals which prompted Tatum to admit himself that he needed to shoot better. After his two 30-point games in the final three contests of the championship series, with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in hand, Tatum let fans know he’d heard every word.
What they gone say now https://t.co/LOLNec2cdx
— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) June 18, 2024
Tatum joins a list of eight Duke basketball players in school history with an NBA Finals victory on his resume.