Celtics star Jayson Tatum has defined his journey earlier than the 2017 draft and the way he felt reduce that the Lakers didn’t even give him a glance in.
“I used to be in LA, the Celtics had the No.1 decide on the time. They got here to observe me in Phoenix. So Phoenix was 4. So, I labored out for all of them, they got here, watched me all people was raving in regards to the exercise,” the Celtics star mentioned on Membership 520 podcast. “However then any person, I ain’t going to say his title, however any person from the Celtics entrance workplace was like ‘Yo probably the greatest exercises I’ve seen’. He was like ‘Good luck in your profession however you understand we bought the No.1 decide. We in all probability not going to select you’. At the moment I used to be like rattling.”
Tatum was coping with the information from the Celtics, in addition to the very fact the purple and gold paid him completely no thoughts.
“…For me, I grew up a Kobe fan,” JT mentioned. “Like, I all the time needed to play for the Lakers. So for them to have the No. 2 decide and it was like they didn’t even- it wasn’t even a thought that I used to be going to get drafted – that was sort of devastating. So, I by no means labored out for the Lakers. They by no means got here to observe me work out.”
Boston needed to deliver Tatum again for an additional exercise forward of the draft, but it surely took some convincing from his Duke coach on the time Mike Krzyzewski.
“I bear in mind Coach Ok was like, ‘Yo, Boston needs to have you ever for a second exercise. You must go,’” Tatum recalled. “I’m like, ‘Coach, they simply got here off the Japanese Convention Finals. They bought a veteran workforce, I’m in all probability not gonna play. I don’t wanna go.’ And he was raving about Brad Stevens. He was like, ‘Brad’s probably the greatest coaches within the league, simply go for an additional exercise.’
“And I bear in mind, I went as much as Boston like three days earlier than the draft. I had one other exercise. I didn’t know the place I used to be getting drafted till they known as my title. However, you understand, the remainder is historical past, and all of it labored out.”
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