Former Duke basketball star [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] did more than win his first career NBA title on Monday night during the fifth game of the 2024 NBA Finals. He also squeaked past one of the greatest players in the history of the sport inside the NBA record book.
With a 31-point performance in Game 5, his sixth 30-point game of the postseason, Tatum surpassed Kobe Bryant for the most playoff points by a player before his 27th birthday.
Through seven years in the NBA, Tatum has scored 2,711 career points in the postseason. When you factor in his 113 postseason games (a staggering number for a 26-year-old), he’s averaging 24.0 points per game in the playoffs.
Bryant played in 119 playoff games before his 27th birthday, so Tatum reached the mark faster than the Lakers legend.
2024 marked the fifth straight time Tatum averaged at least 25.0 points per game during a playoff run. His highest volume total came in 2022 when he and the Celtics first reached the Finals only to be foiled by the Golden State Warriors and superstar point guard Steph Curry. Tatum put up 615 points in 24 games that postseason, averaging 25.6 points per game.
Jayson Tatum has passed Kobe Bryant for the most postseason points by a player age 26 or younger đ pic.twitter.com/opeLhg9OX6
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) June 18, 2024
His most statistically prolific postseason came in 2021 when he averaged 30.6 points, but he only played five games.