The title says it all.

Jayson Tatum, the 21 year old Forward for the Boston Celtics, is ascending to stardom right before our very eyes. Boston, winners of 14 of their last 17, has put together an incredible run as the season winds down for the playoffs, and sit currently sit 3rd in the Eastern Conference at 41-17. You can dissect their success however you want, but the clear reason as to why they’ve had so much success as of late is because of Number 0.

Tatum’s rise to stardom didn’t happen overnight. It has been a gradual and elevated level of play. As the month of February comes to a close, in just this month alone, he has averaged: 30.5 Points, 7.5 Rebounds, 3.0 Assists, while shooting 51.4% from the field and 50% from 3 point land. To put in perspective, in January, he averaged 21.8 Points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, while shooting 46% from the field and 35% from 3. With Tatums improvement extremely convincing (and could not come at a better time) he has shown no signs of slowing down.

But, what does his rise mean for the Celtics?

It means a couple of things. First, as previously mentioned, Boston sits 3rd in the Eastern Conference, exactly 1 game behind the Toronto Raptors. It is clear as day that the Milwaukee Bucks have run away with the #1 seed (they lead the Raptors by 8 games for crying out loud), so fighting for this 2 seed means a lot more than you’d think. It could determine a wash of a series, or a potentially extremely competitive series.

Right now at the 6 and 7 seed we have the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets. Indiana, now with their all star guard Victor Oladipo returning from injury, is looking to make some noise and potentially pull off a first round upset. Indiana has grit, they shoot the ball extremely well (3rd in FG%), and playmakers who can really cause issues for any team. Indiana will be facing whoever ends with that 3 seed, unless they experience a severe drop off and drop to the 7 seed. But at this point, that is extremely unlikely to happen. At the 7 seed we have the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn has been one of the disappointing teams of the 2019-2020 season, largely due to the absence of former Celtic guard Kyrie Irving. He has battled injuries nearly all season and is most likely shut down for the year as he tends to a shoulder injury. Kevin Durant is still recovering from his Achilles tear, and stated publicly a few months back he will sit out this entire year. The team itself has struggled to find any consistency this year, and are 5 games below .500, and yet have still managed to be in a playoff spot, due to how weak the Eastern conference gets after the Pacers. Brooklyn has some talented and gifted players, but not enough to knock off Boston or Toronto. We’d be talking about a 4-5 game series with whoever they face.

So right now, both Toronto and Boston would certainly rather play Brooklyn over Indiana. And securing the 2 seed over the 3 seed is easily both teams main priority.

The way Jayson Tatum has been playing, Boston has looked nearly unstoppable. He’s making shots, he’s getting people involved, and is polishing his talent game by game. With convincing wins at home versus the Clippers, at Utah, at Portland, and a heartbreaking but also thrilling loss to the Lakers, Tatum has scored 30+ in each of those games. It’s almost default at this point that Tatum will drop at least 25 per night. And that’s stardom folks. I mean, if you’re getting praise from LeBron James himself, wouldn’t you think you’re a little good?

If Jayson Tatum keeps this improvement up, Boston will continue this dominant stretch. And this will carry over into the playoffs, with this Kobe Bryant-esqe style of play. Celtics guard Kemba Walker will be returning from injury soon, alongside Robert Williams III. With the Celtics fully healthy, think of how much better they’ll even be with everyone ready to go. A healthy Kemba? A rising Tatum? A hugely improved Jaylen Brown? Gimme some of that.

Jayson Tatum is becoming a star folks. Watch out Toronto, that 2 seed belongs to Boston.

By: Joseph Celia