Jayson Tatum meets ‘ultimate Celtic’ Larry Bird before NBA All-Star game
“I got a chance to go meet him and tell him how much of an honor it was to meet him. He told me he was looking forward to meeting me. So that was crazy to hear him say that."
Nearly a year after Jayson Tatum won the inaugural Larry Bird Trophy, the award given to the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics player finally got to meet the Boston legend himself.
Just before tipoff at the NBA All-Star game on Sunday in Indianapolis, Bird joined NBA commissioner Adam Silver and basketball icon Julius Irving in the Eastern Conference locker room. Tatum sat in awe, listening to Bird’s pre-game speech.
It only took seven years as a Celtic, but Tatum finally made it into the same room as the franchise hero.
“I got a chance to go meet him and tell him how much of an honor it was to meet him. He told me he was looking forward to meeting me. So that was crazy to hear him say that,” Tatum said.
“He’s a lot taller than I thought he was. But obviously what he means to the game, what he means to the city of Boston and the Celtics, he’s the ultimate Celtic.”
The interaction gave Tatum just the spark he needed before taking to the floor and delivering a 211-186 loss to the Western Conference team.
“I got to meet him and I was anxious, so I got some juices flowing for the game right now,” Tatum said.
Bird, a 12-time All-Star, watched from courtside as the next generation of Celtics stars got to work. He spent all 13 years of his career in Boston, during which he secured three MVP awards, three championships, and two Finals MVP awards.
Tatum is building a fine pedigree of his own, too. The 25-year-old leads the 43-12 Celtics with the best record in the league, holding a six-game advantage over the Cavaliers for the top spot in the East. This season, Tatum is averaging 27.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game.
While the Celtics have their eye on securing their first championship since 2008, Jaylen Brown said playing in the All-Star game gives him and Tatum the opportunity to further the legacy that Bird helped establish for the organization.
“I think it’s just another platform to continue to raise for yourself but also raise for the city of Boston, just represent,” Brown said. “I think that’s what we kind of look at it as. That’s what we’ve become.”
The Celtics jump back into regular season play on Thursday, facing off against the Bulls in Chicago at 8 p.m.
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