As Paul Pierce watched Jayson Tatum put on a show against the New York Knicks on Monday night, he boldly claimed that the 25-year-old is the best American basketball player at present.
“Tatum is the best American Basketball Player in the World.”
Tatum is the best American Basketball Player in the World 😎
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) November 14, 2023
Tatum would end up with 35 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and a steal on the night, as the Boston Celtics won 114-98 to improve to 8-2. There’s no doubt that the four-time All-Star is one of the best American basketball players at the moment, but I’m not sure I’d say he’s outright the best.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are certainly in that conversation and with Joel Embiid now opting to play for Team USA, he’d be in it too. For all that Tatum has done in the NBA and is doing right now, I don’t think he’s managed to separate himself from the pack just yet. Maybe if he wins the championship this season, then there’d be a strong argument for him to be the best.
NBA Fans Reacted To Pierce’s Claim
Pierce’s take on Tatum being the best American player drew a lot of reactions from NBA fans. They ended up being rather divided on just who is the best.
One brought up Curry outperforming Tatum in the 2022 Finals as proof of him being the best.
Curry mopped the floor with him in the finals
— Russ (@Russ__ATX) November 14, 2023
Durant was the pick for one fan.
I’d take Durant all day everyday
— Curt Hoes (@ShowTime_32) November 14, 2023
One fan agreed with Pierce on Tatum being the best.
https://twitter.com/tronnniel/status/1724245172706304321
A fan went with Anthony Edwards, who excelled at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
ant clears I’m afraid
— Joshua 🌔🪙 (@ilustriouseller) November 14, 2023
Tatum can’t be the best as he hasn’t won anything, a fan stated.
lol with no hardware you can’t be the best
— Killa (@LilKilla229) November 14, 2023
It really does come back to Tatum needing to win something if he is to be considered the best. You never get the respect you deserve until that and Nikola Jokic is a great example. After getting mocked from some corners for his postseason failures, he is now generally regarded as the best player in the world, after winning it all this past season.
Paul Pierce Believes Jayson Tatum Is On Pace To Become One Of The All-Time Greats
Pierce has always been very complimentary of Tatum and he clearly has a lot of respect for him. He even openly stated he wasn’t as good a player as the 25-year-old is and Pierce believes Tatum is on pace to be one of the greatest players ever.
“He’s a generational star. When you look at what he’s done in his career at such a young age. Highest All-Star score ever, Game 7 highest score ever, he’s setting NBA records and he’s been in the Conference finals since his first or second year. He’s on pace to be one of the greatest players to ever play this game already. I have no ego in this, game recognize game. He’s doing a lot of things I did but at 6’10”, and I honor that, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Tatum has certainly accomplished a lot so far in the NBA. During his first six seasons in the league, he made one of the All-NBA teams thrice, was a four-time All-Star, and took his team to the Conference Finals four times. They made it to the NBA Finals once from there but lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
You’d think he will eventually at some point win that elusive championship as well to become an all-time great, but we have said that about others in the past, only for them to fail to get it done. So, it’s not a given by any means.
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