Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics recently talked about idolizing Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers growing up.
There is no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics have one of the best rivalries in basketball. Due to a lot of big showdowns over the years in the NBA Finals, it resulted in a great rivalry.
With a lot of great players on each franchise, having faces like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, and Paul Pierce headline the rivalry certainly helps. In recent years, the Celtics are certainly trending up, while the Lakers are hoping to do so this season.
One of the great young players on the Celtics is Jayson Tatum. After just one season at Duke, Tatum’s game translated into the NBA very nicely. On The Bill Simmons podcast recently, talked about growing up with Kobe being his favorite player. Here’s what he said via LakersNation.com.
"“My favorite player was Kobe. … That was my favorite player ever. LeBron was one of them, Carmelo, Paul George, KD, guys who just play the wing position. … Kobe was the reason I wanted to play basketball. From a kid, like, my earliest basketball memory was of him. … When I was like four or five, my mom would ask me what I wanted to be when I got older. And I would just be like, ‘I wanna be Kobe.’ She’d be like, ‘You wanna be in the NBA?’ ‘No, like, I wanna be Kobe.’ He was just my favorite player. I had his poster, all his jerseys. That was my guy.”"
Due to the rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers, Tatum growing up being a Kobe fan likely didn’t go over too well in Boston. However, the way Tatum plays on the court likely made fans forget all about it. In his rookie season, Tatum averaged 13.9 points per game, and was extremely efficient shooting the ball. Overall, Tatum had a great rookie season for the Celtics.
In the Eastern Conference, Tatum and the Celtics will be one of the favorites to win the conference this season. For the Lakers, the addition of LeBron James instantly helps them become a playoff contender. However, they will have to deal with some stiff competition in the Western Conference.
With both teams now playoff contenders, we might get a chance to see them in another NBA Finals matchup in the next couple of years. For Tatum, games against the Lakers certainly have a little extra meaning due to his fandom of Bryant growing up.