Whenever basketball does come back, feel free to start calling Jayson Tatum by his new nickname, which comes from some postgame comments from LeBron James at the end of February. Tatum, as the next great Celtics guard, can be known as “The Problem,” if his conversation yesterday with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols is any indication.
After a thrilling win against the Celtics on a LeBron James fadeaway, James went on Instagram to share a photo of he and Tatum together, stating that Tatum was “an absolute problem.” This was after Tatum dropped 41 points, which the Lakers were only able to overcome due to the big shot by James and the huge play of Anthony Davis.
In a conversation with Tatum yesterday, Nichols noted the similarities between LeBron’s comments about Tatum and comments from almost 20 years ago from Shaquille O’Neal about a young Paul Pierce, dubbing him “The Truth,” after Pierce scored 42 points in a close loss to the Lakers back in 2001. You can jump to the five-minute mark to hear Tatum’s thoughts on the nickname.
Jayson Tatum joins #TheJump & says he "hasn't touched a basketball" since Boston's last game. We also discussed last year's MVP (he thinks Harden should have won), food he's helping get to families in Boston & St. Louis, and if he's on board with the new nickname "The Problem" pic.twitter.com/Pe0OxboyY2
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 13, 2020
Tatum, of course, grew up idolizing LeBron and has also competed against him at an extremely high level when the two faced off in an epic seven-game series in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals. And while LeBron doesn’t have a rap career like Shaq behind the mic, he does have quite the affinity for nicknames. He’s definitely got a hit with “The Problem,” but a lot of that also has to do with how well Tatum has been playing this season.
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