Trainer: Celtics' Jayson Tatum Compares His Résumé at Age 27 to Jordan, LeBron, Curry

A longtime trainer of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said this week that the reigning NBA champion compares his legacy and accomplishments to what some of the all-time greats had done at the same age.

Tatum's skills coach, Drew Hanlen, revealed the information to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, saying:

"I think a lot of people are like, 'Oh, he's out for revenge.' I don't think Jayson looks at it like that. He's like, 'Compare my résumé at 27 to Michael Jordan, who never won one at 27. Compare it to LeBron [James], who had won one. Compare it to Steph [Curry], who had one."

Tatum, who will turn 27 in March, won the first NBA title of his career last season. By comparison, Jordan and James did not win their first titles until their age-27 seasons. Curry won his first title in his age-26 season, and his second in his age-28 season.

Originally the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft out of Duke, Tatum has been everything the Celtics could have hoped for and more.

Over the course of his seven-year NBA career, Tatum is a five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, and he owns averages of 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 three-pointers made and 1.1 steals per game.

While Tatum had a ton of talent around him last season, including the likes of Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porziņģis, he was the primary go-to guy throughout the season on a dominant team that won it all.

The narrative surrounding Tatum is a bit different than those around Jordan, James and Curry, though, since he doesn't have the same individual accolades.

Tatum has never finished better than fourth in the NBA MVP voting, whereas Jordan was a five-time MVP, James is a four-time MVP and Curry is a two-time MVP. All of them won their first MVP before the age of 27 as well.

Also, Tatum did not win the NBA Finals MVP Award, as that distinction went to Brown last season. Jordan was Finals MVP for all six of his titles, and James has been Finals MVP for all four of his.

Curry was not Finals MVP for any of his first three championships, but he finally got one when the Warriors beat Tatum and the Celtics in the 2022 Finals.

Tatum is now a two-time Olympic gold medalist to go along with his championship, but his role was severely limited this summer compared to the 2020 Olympics.

Warriors and Team USA head coach Steve Kerr played Tatum sparingly, whereas Curry, James and Kevin Durant were the stars of the team, leading the Americans to a huge, come-from-behind win over Serbia in the semifinals before beating host France in the gold medal game.

That isn't to say that Tatum couldn't have performed at a high level had he received more playing time, but the optics indicated that he was merely a role player on the team compared to James and Curry.

With that said, Tatum is arguably just now entering the prime of his career, meaning he will have plenty more shots at championships and MVP awards, while that may not be the case for LeBron or Steph.

The upcoming season represents a huge chance for Tatum to add to his already impressive résumé since the Celtics are largely returning the same roster from last season and are favored to repeat as champions.