Jayson Tatum Joined Very Exclusive Group With Gold Medal Win
Jayson Tatum is projected to play basketball for many, many more years, but he will have a tough time topping his latest season.
Tatum tacked on another accolade Saturday when he won an Olympic gold medal -- the second of his career -- with the United States men's basketball team in Paris. The coveted honor was earned after an NBA season in which Tatum received a first-team All-NBA nod and led the Boston Celtics to the 2024 championship.
As the Celtics pointed out after Team USA's win over France, only two other people can say they claimed all three of those aforementioned awards in the same year. And they arguably are the two best basketball players of all time: LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
Of course, Tatum didn't star in the Americans' run to the gold medal like he did in Boston's journey to the Larry O'Brien Trophy. In fact, the five-time All-Star's lack of minutes in these Summer Games might have garnered more attention from fans and media members alike than Team USA's play on the court.
But a win is a win, and the gold medal capped off an incredible stretch of basketball that the Celtics franchise cornerstone surely will never forget.