Boston Celtics

Kevin Durant admires Jayson Tatum’s continued growth as a player

"He's learning more and more about NBA defenses, and as a young guy he's been through so much already."

Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant have each other's respect ahead of their first playoff matchup.

By Conor Roche

2 minutes to read

Jayson Tatum has Kevin Durant’s respect.

The 23-year-old Celtics star has had a lot thrown at him this season. At the beginning, Tatum didn’t have his star point guard by his side as Kemba Walker was still out due to knee injections. In January, Tatum tested positive for COVID-19 and is still dealing with the effects of the virus. Now heading into the playoffs, Tatum and the Celtics are without their other young star, Jaylen Brown, who had a season-ending wrist surgery earlier in May.

Through all of that, Tatum’s putting up another All-Star season, averaging 26.4 points per game and putting up several memorable performances along the way.

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Ahead of Game 1 between the Celtics and Nets, Tatum’s ability to remain as good as he’s been earned him praise from Durant.

“The best thing I’ve seen about JT is how he stays the same no matter what the lineup is,” Durant told reporters Friday. “Guys are in and out. He had COVID. His running mate is out for the rest of the season. Kemba was in and out of the lineup. And he stayed solid.”

This season, Tatum’s fourth in the league, marked another year of improvement from him. His points per game, rebounds per game (7.4), and assists per game (4.3) were all career-highs, and as the Celtics’ No. 1 option on offense, he still shot 45.9 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from 3-point territory.

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All of that catches Durant’s eye.

“The way he plays the game, he never changes his style from scoring from the top of the key, to the post, from either side of the floor, adding passing to the game now,” Durant said. “I feel like he has some blinders on and just focused in on developing and continuing to grow as a player, and that’s what I admire the most from afar.

“But he’s learning more and more about NBA defenses, and as a young guy he’s been through so much already. He’s only going to get smarter, so I think at this point people have thrown everything at him and he’s handled it pretty well.”

The praise among the two stars isn’t going one way. On Thursday, Tatum recalled memories of when he was at one of Durant’s basketball camps, hoping to one day be as good as him.

“I always envisioned when I took pictures with those guys that one day I would be in their shoes,” Tatum said. “It’s cool. Obviously I knew (Durant) pretty well and getting a chance to compete against him, knowing that he was a guy I really looked up to when I was in middle school, high school. It’s cool to see those things kind of come around full circle.”

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Years later, Durant, 32, is still one of the NBA’s best players, and Tatum, 23, looks to earn his spot among the league’s elite. Challenging Durant and the heavily favored Nets could go a long way in accomplishing that.

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