NBA Champion And Face Of The NBA Jayson Tatum Absolutely Crushed His Tonight Show Appearance

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Few people on planet earth are having a better summer than NBA Champion Jayson Tatum (god that still feels so awesome to type). There's this debate as to who "the next face of the NBA" is, with some going with Nikola Jokic, Anthony Edwards, or Luka Doncic. All good choices I guess, but the real answer is clearly Jayson Tatum. Since he entered the NBA, few players (if any) have been as successful

and now with his first title under his belt and a great opportunity to add more to his trophy case this season, it's the logical choice. I get it though, he plays for a team opposing fanbases hate, mostly out of jealousy. He's not controversial, he doesn't give viral soundbites or quotes like some other players, he just shows up, works on his game, and hangs out with his kid. 

With the release of his new children's book, Tatum is doing the PR tour which last night led to his appearance on The Tonight Show. As you can imagine, he crushed it

First off, Deuce getting his own championship ring is incredible. Makes sense though considering he's basically on the 15 man roster, plus he did have that all time moment after Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Every time we see Tatum in one of these settings, I always walk away impressed with how good his media training is. He knows how to have fun while not saying anything that might get him in trouble or be used as bulletin board material, and honestly seeing him dealing with these spots from a 19 year old to now is pretty crazy. 

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Things easily could have gone off the rails once they got to the NBA prediction segment, but in classic Tatum fashion he didn't take the bait and played to the crowd like a vet. Saying the Knicks will have more than 50 wins? I'm not sure how they'll do it but it was the perfect answer for that crowd. Predicting a BOS/DAL rematch? Another great answer. Not only because that would be another quick series for him, but it's the safe answer. Picking himself for MVP? That's not going to go cause any drama/headlines. The Jimmy Kimmel burn at the end? Fantastic. 

As Celtics fans, it should not be taken for granted what we're watching. This isn't just one of the best players in the league, but he's well on his way to becoming one of the greatest Celtics to ever do it. Now that he can finally enter the club of champions, the sky is the limit. The way things are looking, he's going to be among the franchise leaders in pretty much every category. Every year all we see is how Tatum has done something we haven't seen since Larry Bird. These type of players are generational, and if he's able to add one (or more) rings to his name we're going to be having conversations that a lot of old time Celts fans aren't going to be ready to have. Can't wait.