Magic Johnson says Jayson Tatum’s agent didn’t want him to work out for Lakers
"His agent also didn't want us to work him out, because he didn't want him to end up with the Lakers."
Jayson Tatum has developed into a superstar during his eight seasons with the Celtics — winning an NBA title in 2024 just weeks before signing the most lucrative contract in NBA history.
Landing in Boston with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft was a stroke of good fortune for Tatum, especially with the Celtics initially trading down from the first-overall pick in a franchise-shifting deal with the 76ers.
But even if things have worked out for Tatum in Boston, the longtime fan of Kobe Bryant admittedly that he initially wanted to play for the Los Angeles Lakers growing up.
During a recent interview on the Club 520 Podcast, Tatum admitted that his ideal draft destination was Los Angeles — which held the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
“For me, I grew up a Kobe fan,” Tatum said. “I always wanted to play for the Lakers. For them to have the No. 2 pick and it was like it wasn’t even a thought that I was going to get drafted, that was kind of devastating so I never worked out for the Lakers. They never came to watch me work out.”
The Celtics had no qualms with the Lakers passing on Tatum in the 2017 NBA Draft.
But according to basketball Hall of Famer and ex-Lakers exec Magic Johnson, it was not the Lakers’ call that they didn’t attend Tatum’s workouts ahead of the draft.
“I’m happy, what’s happened for Jayson — because he’s been amazing with the Celtics … I wanted to address that and let him know, yes, we looked at him. But his agent also didn’t want us to work him out, because he didn’t want him to end up with the Lakers,” Johnson said during an interview with SiriusXM. “Because we are already top-heavy with forwards, and that’s why they wouldn’t work out for us.
“See, I was there — so I can tell Jayson what really happened. His agent didn’t want him to work out for us, because he knew it wasn’t a good situation. After all, we already had too many forwards.”
Los Angeles opted to take a point guard in Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick, with the Lakers addressing an area of need after taking forwards Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram with each of their first-round picks in 2014 and 2016.
“We took a look at him. … But the problem was, we were top-heavy with forwards,” Johnson added. “I couldn’t take him because we had Brandon Ingram, who was only in his second year, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr. So I already had too many forwards.
“There [were] already problems, because they all wanted to play, right? And so if I took another forward, we would never see this Tatum if he had ended up with the Lakers, because he would have been sitting on that bench … So I’m just happy that we needed a point guard at that time, and that’s why we took Lonzo Ball and we didn’t need the locker room to have any problems with another young forward.”
Even if things worked out between Tatum and the Celtics, he also initially found himself in a logjam with Boston in 2017 — especially after the Celtics signed forward Gordon Hayward to a four-year contract that same offseason.
“I get drafted, and Gordon Hayward signed with the Celtics,” Tatum said on Club 520. “I called my agent like ‘yo, I gotta get traded’. I’m in Summer League before I ever played a game like ‘yo’. He’s like ‘relax. Just wait it out.’ Basically, he’s like ‘you gotta chill.’”
Things worked out for Tatum in short order, with a season-ending injury to Hayward during Boston’s season opener paving the way for heavy minutes out of the gate for the rookie.
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