Boston Celtics: 2 stars we could see C’s pairing Jayson Tatum with one day

Devin Booker, SG

As mentioned in the introduction slide, when coming into the NBA Draft back in 2017, Jayson Tatum wasn’t very interested in being selected by the Boston Celtics. In fact, according to his time on “All the Smoke”, his heart was set on being a Phoenix Sun:

"“I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to go to Boston. I like it out here in Phoenix,” Tatum recalled. “It’s cool. The weather is nice. I get a big house, I get a pool. My mom is going to be out here.” Tatum’s agent tried to sell him on Brad Stevens as a great young coach, plus the illustrious history of the Boston Celtics. But it wasn’t until Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski stepped in that Tatum opened up to the idea of playing for the Celtics. “I’m like, ‘I’m not trying to hear that. I want to go to Phoenix,’” said Tatum. “My agent was like, ‘Just think about it.’ So we hang up, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to this workout right now. I’m cool.’ But then Coach K called me right after my agent did and he was like, ‘Jayson, the Celtics called, they want you to come work out. I think Brad Stevens is a great coach and it’s a great place to be. You’ll learn a lot.’ So I’m like, ‘Ugh, all right. I’ll go.’”"

Thank god for Coach K, am I right Boston Celtics fans?!

A big draw for Tatum wanting to go to Phoenix, aside from the weather, was the prospect of playing alongside face of the franchise Devin Booker, where, then, head coach Earl Watson dubbed their potential pairing as “two light-skinned killers” on the court.

"“I’m sitting in the car and I’m like, this sound good,” Tatum said. “Yeah, I think I want to come here.”"

Obviously, this never ended up being the case and Tatum wound up being picked third overall by the Celtics where he has found much success with the franchise.

However, though his wish of heading to Arizona never transpired, perhaps the C’s can still make one of his other initial wishes from coming into the league become a reality. According to Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus this offseason the Suns could look into trade options involving Booker, stating:

"The Phoenix Suns are at least willing to discuss moving their best scorer in Devin Booker, albeit at a premium. The Suns, who are motivated to remake their roster, are one of the most active teams on the market heading into the draft."

If this actually turns out to be the case, and the Boston Celtics wish to get a bit frisky, perhaps they could find themselves in the mix and try to add the first time All-Star to their roster in time for the 2020-21 season in an attempt to create their own version of a superteam.

On the season, the 23-year-old is posting averages of 26.1 points, 6.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds on 49 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep.

With the draft capital the C’s have accumulated over the years — have 3 first-round selections in this year’s draft alone — coupled with the plethora of talented assets currently on the roster, Boston could very easily make the Suns an enticing offer to acquire their lone star.

To be honest, we are not advocating for the acquisitions of these two players and believe it to be a farfetched idea that the C’s would even do this, for the team’s current core of Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart has proven to be a menacing force in the league — 43-21 on the season, ranking fifth best in the entire NBA.

However, if they were eager to go star chasing and shock the basketball world — no, we’re not suggesting this — these two players, who have been publicly praised by their face of the franchise in Tatum, would likely be at the top of their list.