It doesn’t matter how many All-NBA First Team Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum racks up. Or how many championship rings he collects. Or even how many highlight plays, scoring explosions, and step back game winners that Tatum hits. None of this will change how the fans, his fellow peers, and the NBA world in general view him. He is not the face of the league, and he will never become it. So, Tatum and Celtics nation just need to get over it.
This argument started when Tatum stated that he felt slighted in the face of the league talk. He felt NBA media purposely skips over him and goes straight to players who are far less accomplished when they start the ‘Face Of The League’ conversation. Instead of reigning champion Tatum leading the conversation, it always starts with either Anthony Edwards or Luka Doncic.
“If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you’re just like, ‘This is what Player A accomplished at 26,’ people would talk about [me] a lot differently,” Tatum said.
FS1’s Colin Cowherd went viral after giving an explosive Tatum take. In summary, he said Tatum can’t be the face of the league because he doesn’t stand out definitively. There’s nothing about his game that is jaw dropping and that he isn’t great at anything. Long story short, Tatum is a great player, but faces of the league are iconic. And he is 100 percent right.
Despite six All-Star teams in eight seasons, four All-NBA teams and the 2024 NBA title, Tatum’s game isn’t reflective of a face of the league. What does he do exceptionally well? He doesn’t shoot better than Stephen Curry. He doesn’t lead better than a LeBron James. He isn’t more athletic than an Anthony Edwards. And he just flat out isn’t better than MVP caliber players like Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, or Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Comparison is the thief of joy, but if Tatum wants to be the face of the league, it’s only right to compare him to the previous ones. By the time LeBron was in year two the rumblings had already started, and what did LeBron do? Come in and average 30 at the tender age of 21. Michael Jordan did even more. He broke his foot but came back for the playoffs and gave Boston 63 points in one of the greatest NBA performances ever. Tatum in his second year? He averaged a measly 15 points and disappointed everybody who expected him to break out.
The difference between a superstar and the face of the league is huge. Donovan Mitchell is a superstar, but he isn’t face of the league material. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a superstar and about to be MVP, but he isn’t face of the league material. And the same applies to Jayson Tatum, no matter how badly Boston wants him to be.
The face of the league doesn’t get benched during the Olympics. His game is boring; he takes difficult shots because he wants to be Kobe Bryant. The Celtics are nearly 10 points better when Tatum sits on the bench, how can you be the face of the league and your team is better without you? LeBron remains the face because nobody else has snatched it from him. The future face could be Edwards, Doncic, or even Wembanyama. But one thing is for damn sure, it won’t be Tatum. No matter how much the Celtics or Tatum himself complains about it.
