Jayson Tatum is exactly what fans of the Los Angeles Lakers hate: a bona fide superstar playing for the Boston Celtics. He led them to a championship just over a year ago and the Celtics have been consistently a better team than the Lakers for the entirety of Tatum's career. And he refuses to let the Lakers forget that he could have worn purple and gold this entire time.
The year was 2017, and the NBA Draft featured a number of future stars. For the teams picking at the top of the draft, it was an opportunity to secure franchise-changing cornerstone players. Unfortunately, those teams missed out on finding those future stars.
Donovan Mitchell just finished fifth in MVP voting and is a six-time All-Star; he fell to 13th. One pick later Bam Adebayo, a three-time All-Star and five-time All-Defense selection, went to the Miami Heat. Jarrett Allen came off the board at pick No. 22, while Derrick White, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart all went even later in the first round.
The Top 10 had its fair share of stars as well. De'Aaron Fox went fifth overall to the Sacramento Kings. Lauri Markkanen went No. 7. And the unquestioned best player in the draft, Jayson Tatum, went third overall to the Boston Celtics.
The story of the Celtics' move in that draft is legendary. They originally held the No. 1 pick, courtesy of the Brooklyn Nets, and were so confident in their intel on what other teams would do in the draft that they felt confident moving back from No. 1 to No. 3, trusting Jayson Tatum to still be available.
He was, as the Philadelphia 76ers traded up to No. 1 to draft point guard Markelle Fultz. Injuries and some sort of mental yips destroyed Fultz's career and he turned into a gargantuan bust for the 76ers -- and that's saying something for the franchise that also took Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons in the Top 3.
The Lakers passed on Jayson Tatum
At No. 2, the Los Angeles Lakers came onto the board. They had a decision to make between taking Lonzo Ball, a California native who played his freshman season at UCLA, or Tatum, a Missouri kid who played for Duke. They went with Ball, who has been a solid player but never attained stardom, either before or after the Lakers traded him away.
Tatum hasn't let go of the fact that the Lakers passed on him. In a recent appearance on First Take, Stephen A. Smith asked Tatum about how he has felt since being passed over by the 76ers and Lakers. A diehard Lakers fan growing up, Tatum's favorite player in NBA history is Kobe Bryant. When the 2017 NBA Draft was approaching, he dreamed of playing for his favorite team. He shared that it "hurt" when he was passed on.
Early in his career, that fueled him against those teams. He was upset that they passed on him. Perhaps the heat of the hurt has faded, but he still remembers what happened. He told First Take, "There was no consideration that they wanted to draft me." Danny Ainge knew it. Tatum knows it. The Lakers were locked into Lonzo Ball -- and it was the wrong call.
Magic Johnson is no longer running the front office. The Lakers have had some hits in the draft and some big whiffs. None were as big as passing on Jayson Tatum. And as the Boston Celtics star rehabs a torn Achilles this season and prepares to re-enter the league's upper crust in the next year, the Lakers will continue to feel the pain as he balls out in Kelly Green and not in Lakers Purple.