Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum believes he's overlooked in conversations about the NBA's best players.
"Honestly, no," Tatum told The Washington Post's Michael Lee when asked if he felt adequately appreciated.
"If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you're just like, 'This is what this Player A accomplished at 26,' people would talk about (me) a lot differently."
The forward has been a fixture in the MVP conversation but has yet to win the honor. He's had plenty of postseason success, too: Tatum made the playoffs in all seven of his previous NBA seasons, reaching the Eastern Conference finals in five of them (winning the series' inaugural MVP award in 2022) and competing in two Finals, capturing his first title in his second appearance last June.
Tatum believes his growing list of accolades - a championship, six All-Star selections, four All-NBA nominations, and back-to-back Olympic gold medals with the United States - are enough to make him the face of the league.
But the former third overall pick has no interest in making his own case.
"I don't really want to insert myself in things that can be debated," he said. "Did he win a championship? Yes. Did he win gold medals? Yes. Was he always a part of winning seasons? Was he first-team All-NBA? Those are things that you know are hard evidence. Yes or no.
"Face of the NBA? They can always debate. But it's like, I check off all the boxes."
Tatum is putting up 26.8 points per game this year, virtually identical to his scoring output in the 2023-24 regular season before Boston's 16-3 playoff run to the title. Though slightly below his career-high 30.1-point average in 2022-23, the Duke product is tallying personal bests in rebounding (8.8 per game) and assists (5.7). His effort is helping the Celtics stay competitive with the Cleveland Cavaliers for first place in the Eastern Conference.
