Jayson Tatum believes that if a high school senior is ready, he should be allowed to declare for the NBA draft.
Jayson Tatum is about to enter his second year in the NBA, and the basketball world can’t wait for his sophomore campaign after an insanely successful rookie season at only 19 years of age. He was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated and got asked about the plusses and minuses of the one-and-done rule.
“I see both, Tatum said. “Obviously, if one-and-done hadn’t been a thing, I would’ve went straight out of high school. But now that I know what I know, I probably would have still went to college and just a year of getting bigger and stronger and playing with talented guys against great competition. But I feel like if you’re ready, you should be able to go out of high school.”
Tatum was one of the top three players in his senior class without a doubt, and he would’ve easily gone in the lottery. So, it’s understandable that he feels this way. Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski probably is thankful that the rule was in place so that he could work with players like Tatum, Jabari Parker, and Kyrie Irving among others.
Tatum burst onto the scene during the 2017-18 NBA season with an exceptionally well-rounded game that features post-ups, midrange jumpers, and a surprisingly developed 3-point shot. He stepped up in the playoffs too by scoring 18.5 points per game, and he nearly led the Celtics to the NBA Finals last year. In the same SI article, he backs up Jaylen Brown’s claim that the Celts will make it there next season saying, “Man, I’m always going to back up my teammates… I just hope that we stay healthy this year and see what we can do.”
Tatum will have to share the ball a lot more in the coming campaign though. Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are both ready for training camp, and the offense will certainly revolve around them. Head coach Brad Stevens has a problem that anyone else in the league, other than Steve Kerr, would be happy to have. Stevens’ team has a little too much talent, and Tatum is definitely going to get his touches as well after the poise he showed us all on the game’s largest stage.