Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Clears Air About Magic Johnson’s Draft Comments

Jayson Tatum is seven years removed from being drafted by the Boston Celtics and after Magic Johnson addressed why the Los Angeles Lakers passed up on the Duke product, the 26-year-old sent the NBA legend and rival franchise a message.

Tatum holds no hard feelings for Johnson or the Lakers and has moved on.

“I think I was just upset at the time that there wasn’t, I guess, genuine interest,” Tatum told reporters before Saturday night’s game against the Bulls, per CLNS Media. “Just from my perspective, I grew up the biggest Kobe (Bryant) fan, wanted to play for the Lakers. Magic explained it. They had too many forwards and that was their thought process at the time. It wasn’t like I got any animosity toward Magic or the Lakers. It was just as a kid. I was close to accomplishing a life-long dream, the way I thought it would be.”

During an appearance on former Celtics teammate Jeff Teague’s “Club 520” podcast, Tatum retold the pre-2017 draft story and revealed that a workout with the Lakers never took place. Johnson, catching wind of Tatum’s comments, claimed that Tatum’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, prevented Los Angeles from getting a look at the then-19-year-old.

That triggered a domino effect in which everyone involved recalled their side of the story, including Wechsler and Tatum’s trainer, Drew Hanlen.

Wechsler and Hanlen provided their retellings in separate interviews shortly after Johnson’s and provided identical stories. They both revealed that Tatum was in Los Angeles training, but the Lakers didn’t express any interest. By the time Tatum was in the process of undergoing his final workouts, and no longer on the West Coast, Wechsler and Hanlen claimed that’s when the Lakers reached out for a workout.

However, Wechsler, looking out for Tatum’s best interests, didn’t want him to travel and undergo the workout when it was clear Los Angeles was interested in Lonzo Ball — who went second overall ahead of Tatum — more than any other prospect.

Now nearly a decade later, Tatum’s a five-time All-Star, an NBA champion, and signed the league’s largest contract ($315 million) ever with the Celtics.

“Like I said, it worked out for the best and at that time they did what they thought was best for them,” Tatum said. “Like I said, I don’t have any hard feelings toward them or Magic or that organization. I still made it to the NBA and I’m living out my dream so I’m extremely happy with how it turned out.”

Tatum’s on pace to cement his legacy as one of the greatest Celtics players in franchise history, and is off to a convincing start to an early Hall of Fame case. Even more important, Boston is favorably positioned to follow up its Banner 18 capture with another championship run — or even multiple — with teammates Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White all signed to extensions, too.

Hard to argue that Boston wasn’t Tatum’s true destiny after all.