This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Charles Curtis is filling in for Andy Nesbitt.
Jayson Tatum, welcome to the upper upper echelon of the NBA.
It was just months ago, as we all watched the Boston Celtics make a run to the NBA Finals, that I wrote how Tatum was a star … but he was missing that extra gear, that additional something, that would turn him from one of the NBA’s great young studs into a true superstar. He would join the Lukas, Jokics, LeBrons, Durants and others we’re in awe of if he found it.
Well, he’s found it. And we saw it and then some on Thursday in front of Prince William and Princess Kate.
Tatum dropped 49 points on the Miami Heat, grabbed 11 boards, and hit eight of his 12 treys, enough to earn an impressed tweet from Kevin Durant.
He’s taken that ability to score anywhere on the floor and has done it better than ever and more efficiently with a career-high 48.8 percent from the field. He’s making more threes than ever (3.5 per contest) at a 36.6 percent clip. His free-throw percentage would be a career best. And he’s scoring 31.6 ppg, nearly five more points than last year’s career-high … and also second in the league behind Luka Doncic.
That “it” factor is there. And while this is where I want to give a shoutout to Jaylen Brown, who’s also having a breakthrough season, it feels to me like the Celtics have finally figured out that Tatum is the alpha and not just a 1A to Brown’s 1B. That’s bad news for any Eastern Conference team hoping to see the Celtics take a step back after last year’s amazing run.
Isn’t it amazing to watch when this happens? When a player we know is special spend five seasons honing his craft and then it all comes together in spectacular fashion.
Welcome to the top, Jayson Tatum.
Quick hits: Fireable NFL coaches … More rough Broncos and Russell Wilson news … World Cup drama … and more.
— Sorry, Broncos fans, but Nathaniel Hackett is definitely on Christian D’Andrea’s latest NFL Fireable Coach Rankings
— Also, sorry Broncos fans: There’s a report that few Broncos came to Russell Wilson’s 34th birthday party. Welp.
— Polish goalie Wojciech Szczęsny made the most casual gesture before saving a key Lionel Messi PK.
— Hey, let’s stop comparing Bol Bol to Victor Wembanyama, OK?
