The Jayson Tatum hate is getting out of hand, per Austin Rivers and the Toronto Raptors head coach.
If Jayson Tatum retires today, he will undoubtedly earn a nod to the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s an amazing achievement considering he is just 26 years old.
After winning the first NBA Championship of his career last season and an Olympic gold medal in the summer, JT is by far the best player on the Boston Celtics roster in their title defense.
One would assume that would be enough for the 6x NBA All-Star to be considered in the 2024-25 MVP race, but that’s not the case. If anything, the Celtics superstar has received some unwarranted hatred this season.
Austin Rivers, son of Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, recently tore apart Tatum’s haters. He believes that the Celtics star receives unnecessary hate from fans.
“Remember this is the guy y’all said wasn’t the best player on his own team….this is the guy they chose not to give finals MVP to…smh! Tatum hate has always been unnecessary and unwarranted!” Rivers wrote on X.
Rivers issued the message while sharing an image highlighting JT’s numbers this season. For reference, Tatum is averaging 26.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. He is the Celtics leader in the aforementioned categories along with steals and three-pointers as well.
Despite those numbers, Tatum was fourth behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the latest MVP rankings.
The Celtics improved to a 42-16 record for the season following their 111-101 win over the struggling Toronto Raptors.
After the game, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic had nothing but praise for ‘The Anomaly.’
“That guy is the best player on the best team in the NBA. I don’t think that he gets enough credit for what he does on both ends of the floor for that team. Offensively, defensively, we tried different things against him,” Rajakovic said.
He added: “We were trying to frustrate him with our physicality, but he just kept going and making the right decisions. So they’re really lucky to have a guy like him.”
Tatum contributed 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists in the 10-point win over the Raptors. While he had an underwhelming shooting night, making just 38.9% of his shots, it didn’t stop Rajakovic from showering Tatum with praise.
