The days are starting to drag as we crawl towards the end of the NBA offseason and the beginning of training camp and preseason. But we’re still getting little breadcrumbs here and there, and this weekend, we got a small glimpse of some live Jayson Tatum highlights as a bunch of Duke alums got together for some pickup basketball.
Duke’s social media accounts posted some of the video, which included a Tatum dunk and pull-up three, among other plays. It was great to see JT look like the center of attention, even in a group that included stars like Kyrie Irving and Paolo Banchero.
Saturday bump w/ Kai, JT & P5‼️‼️‼️👿👿👿 pic.twitter.com/nKyFVWwUnt
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) September 12, 2026
It’s not like we aren’t used to seeing Tatum make highlight-reel plays on the basketball court, but it’s still something I’ll never take for granted after the lost season due to the torn Achilles. Seeing him have a full offseason to get back to 100% and him going out and playing as much as he can is a great sign for the coming season and the rest of his career.
Tatum has loads of NBA friends from Duke
Beyond that, these posts offered a great reminder of the close bond that all of the former Duke players share, as they’re choosing to return to Durham, North Carolina, in their free time. The social media posts had captions like “the brotherhood” and “forever decision”, which emphasize the closeness of the players.
And as far as colleges go, there aren’t many with more NBA talent than Duke. The fact that the Celtics’ franchise player has these connections with guys like Irving, Banchero, Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Zion Williamson, and others is great news. Does it mean he’ll recruit any of these guys to the Celtics? Not necessarily, but it certainly can’t hurt.
Tatum played with all kinds of NBA superstars on Team USA
On top of that, Tatum, of course, has his many connections from playing for Team USA, where he's played with superstars like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, and countless others.
Again, this stuff may never end up mattering for the Celtics, but in the modern NBA, where player movement is constant and the players have more control than ever before, it could end up being a great advantage for Boston to have a face of the franchise who has built relationships with some of the biggest and brightest stars around the league.
We’ve seen Team USA friendships lead to NBA superteams before, most notably with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh joining forces in Miami. And we’ve seen college teammates reunite, as recently as the past few years, when we saw Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges use their friendships forged at Villanova to build an NBA champion.
So, it’s not crazy to think that relationships matter, and as far as that goes, Tatum has as good a chance to use it to his advantage as anyone. There may not be anything on the cusp for the coming season, but hopefully, it’s only a matter of time until star players want to team up with JT and raise banners in Boston.
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