The best comp for Jayson Tatum's career
Finding a historical comp for the Boston Celtics star.
On the Bill Simmons podcast podcast on Friday, the topic came up: How should we think about Jayson Tatum’s place in the game? (the discussion hits at around the 6:30 mark)
It was a really fun back-and-forth that demonstrated how hard it is to pin down Tatum’s career. He just turned 26 and has already won as many playoff games as Charles Barkley did in his entire 16-year career.
Bill laid it out like so:
“I know from a Celtics organization all the way up standpoint, they're really frustrated with the Tatum coverage from the sense that he's 26 years old he scored more playoff points than any player in his first seven years ever he's made three First Team All-NBAs, he made first all team NBA this year as an all-around guy he's been really impactful and has gotten better at that year after year.”
It’s a great question. Tatum’s story is about to change. Up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, Tatum and these Celtics are two wins away from reaching the NBA Finals for the second time, with a golden chance to win it all.
Here’s the age-25 season résumé for Tatum:
7x Seasons
23.1 ppg, 7.2 reb, 3.5a career averages
5x All-Star
4x All-NBA (3 1st team, 1 3rd team)
4x MVP votes (2x 4th, 6th, 12th)
1x Season Points leader (2022-23)
7x Playoffs (5x Conf Finals, 1x Finals)
12-6 in postseason series
Who has a similar résumé at this point in their career?
OK, let’s start whittling this down. Thousands of players have played in the league. I’m going to get it down to four comps and then I’ll let you know my favorite.
Ready?
Using the ol’ Stathead tool, let’s find players who have …
All-Star AND All-NBA at least 4 times in first 7 seasons
Why: I like this starting point because it reflects how good Tatum is and how soon he’s been good. We’ll probably lose some late bloomers here, but I’m good with that.
Players remaining: 56.