Chris Grenham: Kara Lawson spoke to the Celtics before practice yesterday. Jayson Tatum spoke to the team about how excited he was for her to become a Blue Devil, while Enes Kanter asked her for a courtside seat.
Jayson Tatum Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 03/03/98
Height: 6-8 / 2.03
Weight:204 lbs. / 92.5 kg.
Salary: $7,830,000
Born: 03/03/98
Height: 6-8 / 2.03
Weight:204 lbs. / 92.5 kg.
Salary: $7,830,000
Jared Weiss: Jayson Tatum on Celtics’ championship goal: “We’ve got a lot of guys that have been through a lot with each other over the last couple of years. So we hold each other accountable, we trust each other and we’re going to fight until there is zero on the clock.”
Jay King: Jayson Tatum: “Just being able to practice with all the guys and get after it … it’s been fun. We’re all enjoying it, getting back into the rhythm. We’re having a lot of fun.”
Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said he fought to protect players who are approaching potentially lucrative contract extensions or free agency after this season during discussions between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. “[There’s] a lot of guys in my situation; a lot of guys are going to be free agents,” Tatum said during a conference call Tuesday afternoon. “… We’ve been off for four months, not being able to be in the facility. Obviously, we’re supposed to stay at home and not having the normal access that we would have to the training facility or the weight room or the gym. And then, [we’re] kind of being asked to ramp up and pick it back up at such a rapid pace and go down there and play. Guys are putting a lot on the line.”
Tom Westerholm: Jayson Tatum said he knew if he didn’t play in Orlando, people would assume he was worried about his next contract. “That would be insensitive, especially during this time when so many people have to file for unemployment, for me to be worried about X amount of dollars.”
Brian Robb: Chris Paul called Jayson Tatum to ask him to be a part of negotiations with the NBPA heading into restart, according to Tatum.
Chris Grenham: Jayson Tatum says he’s excited to see everyone and their new haircuts. “Just being around those guys again and sharing the floor.”
Brian Robb: Jayson Tatum on reports regarding him sitting out due to max extension: “I saw there were reports out there saying I wasn’t going to play because of my contract. I never talked to anyone about that…that would be insensitive for me to be worrying about that during this time.”
Chris Forsberg: Jayson Tatum said the league’s insurance policy “didn’t really affect — in a good or bad way — my decision [to go to Orlando].” Said injury risk didn’t really factor into his decision, it was mostly family concerns that left him leery.
Chris Grenham: Important Jayson Tatum golf update: he’s driving the ball 340 yards.
Chris Grenham: Important Jayson Tatum golf update: he’s driving the ball 340 yards.
Jay King: Daniel Theis said the Celtics look good, like they used the time off wisely. “They look great. Especially (Jayson Tatum). He walked in the first day and couldn’t miss a shot.”
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Nicole Yang: Jayson Tatum is getting a new puppy: a blue fawn French bulldog named Bean, after the late Kobe Bryant. The breeder, Humble Breed Bullies in Philly, says Bean is 4 weeks old and will be driven to Boston once he is 8 weeks. @LilWeezyDog might have a new friend.
Tatum’s got to make some decisions… Do I sign for your four- or five-year extension? Or do I play it out and just become a restricted free agent and hope that the cap goes up afterwards so then I can sign a max still for more money? From what I’m being told, Jayson at this point is leaning towards signing max deal when he’s eligible and going from there.
Arturs Kalnitis: “After not playing for four months, a few weeks isn’t enough time to get ready and return to playing. We’re not the only ones who are concerned about this. I’m not going to speculate on how many players will sit out, but we aren’t the only ones who are concerned. I saw that Jayson Tatum and a few other players who are on the verge of signing a big deal this summer raised some concerns [and got insurance policies].”
Jayson Tatum not considering sitting out
Jayson Tatum is not considering sitting out the restart of the season due to contract concerns, according to two league sources familiar with the Celtics All-Star’s plans. A report in the New York Daily News indicated that Tatum, who has been in town working out at the Celtics practice facility, was “reluctant to return” for concerns he would get hurt and that would impact his chances of signing a multi-year, max-salaried extension this offseason.
“Not true,” a source told NBC Sports Boston. “He’s concerned like every other player about returning to play. There’s a lot … going on in the world that players need to be more concerned about. But sitting out because of the contract? Hell no!”
“And when it comes to injuries, restart or not, players always run the risk of having one whenever they step on the court,” a league executive told NBC Sports Boston. “Players have more concerns with the reboot to the season; I get that. But I just don’t see guys sitting out games because they might get hurt. They run that risk every time they play the game.”
There were plenty of safety rules in place, and it made the environment different. There is usually a coterie of observers and helpers when Tatum is shooting jump shots. Maybe two coaches to rebound, another to offer instruction, and sometimes even a member of the medical staff to oversee it all. But in this case, there was just assistant coach Jay Larranaga, wearing a mask and gloves and wondering whether he still had the legs to chase down the errant shots all by himself. “I’m lucky Tatum doesn’t ever miss,” Larranaga said. “So I just stay under the hoop. He looks like he’s in midseason form right now.”
Despite that uncertainty, there did not ever appear to be a time when Tatum lost his focus, according to Larranaga. “It’s frustrating when you’re in the midst of a really great season and having the responsibility that he likes and has wanted to have on the team,” Larranaga said. “It’s frustrating to have the season interrupted. “But he’s a pretty amazing athlete and player that, regardless of circumstance, regardless of if he’s able to work out or takes a few days off, his consistency day-to-day is pretty extraordinary.”
“I think there’s some things from Allan Houston’s game that Jayson can use,” Larranaga said. “And Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was like Steph Curry before Steph Curry, and a lot of players in the NBA today might not even know who he is.”
Tim Reynolds: Bam Adebayo says he expects he, Kyle Kuzma, Donovan Mitchell, De’Aaron Fox and Jayson Tatum to talk more about the insurance issue. “Our ultimate goal is to play. So, I don’t want anybody thinking, ‘If they don’t get their insurance, they’re not playing.’ No, we want to play.”
13 Jun
Top young players seek NBA insurance
On the cusp of hundreds of millions of dollars in contract extensions, several of the NBA’s top young stars had a Friday call with National Basketball Players Association officials about the possibility of league-financed insurance policies to protect against career-threatening injuries in the bubble restart in Orlando, sources tell ESPN. Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Jayson Tatum — five players with significant star and earning power — talked with executive director Michele Roberts and senior counsel Ron Klempner about the NBPA facilitating talks with the league on possible insurance allowances for players, sources said.
The NBPA and NBA have engaged on the possibility of protections for players in the event of serious COVID-19 illnesses or career-threatening injuries suffered in Orlando, sources told ESPN. The union and league are still negotiating details on the revised terms to the collective bargaining agreement before the 22-team restart. Together, Adebayo, Fox, Kuzma, Mitchell and Tatum have hoped the collective voice of such a starry group of elite young talent could shape the league’s thinking on sharing in the risk on insurance not only for them, but a broader swath of players returning to the season’s restart in Orlando, sources said.
Jayson Tatum likely to get max extension
HoopsHype asked some experts to weigh in on Tatum’s future and the likelihood of him getting the max. “I think he is getting a max extension,” an Eastern Conference general manager told HoopsHype. “That may be one where you have some incentives in the deal; I mean, it’s not like he’s LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo. But he’s pretty close to being a Top 20 player, if he isn’t already, and he’s still so young. Usually, you’re trying to keep goodwill with a player like that.
“Maybe it’ll be a max deal with certain likely bonuses – some fairly attainable incentives in there – but I think it’ll be a max deal. If that ends up being below the max, I’d be very, very surprised.” ESPN analyst Bobby Marks, who worked in NBA front offices for 20 years, agreed with the general manager. “I think they’ll give him a blank check,” Marks said with a laugh. “He’s one of those guys where you go with the blank-check approach. I think Tatum and Donovan Mitchell can basically dictate what salary they want. I think we saw with the extension that Boston gave Jaylen Brown, which wasn’t the full max, they gave themselves a little bit of cap flexibility because they knew that Jayson’s was coming up next. But, yeah, I think it’s a no-brainer. I doubt we’re going to see Boston come in with a low-ball number. (laughs)”
09 Jun
John Karalis: The Boston Celtics release footage of Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum working out at the Auerbach Center today…. …. we’re getting a little closer to basketball being back pic.twitter.com/1PVCURaiqt
Silver has made sure Paul and Roberts have had a seat at the table over the past three months as all this has unfolded. The union recently formed a players’ committee, led by Paul and joined by Kyle Lowry, Dwight Powell, Russell Westbrook and Jayson Tatum, to further consult with Silver and some of his top officials as the process unfolds. In this way the union has, in some respects, voted along the way. One such example is the union’s preference to allow some family into a quarantined campus, which the league has made a priority for weeks as it has pieced plans together.
Max extension coming for Jayson Tatum?
Windhorst, in an appearance on SportsCenter on Saturday, talked about Boston’s plans this offseason. “If Jayson Tatum is the superstar that they envisioned when they began this whole rebuilding process when they traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for all of those draft picks hoping to land a player like this, we could see ‘Glory Days’ for the Celtics again,” Windhorst said. “But it’s very much up in the air, and I’m gonna tell ya, they’re gonna have to pay him like it because after this season ends, he is going to get most likely a max contract. They’re going to bet that he becomes that player.”
The NBA and the players’ association have formed a joint committee to study return-to-play plans. In addition to the league office, it includes health experts, Chris Paul, Dwight Powell, Kyle Lowry, Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook, though sources say NBA commissioner Adam Silver and some players have had similar discussions informally for weeks.
