Magic Johnson, on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers, spoke out relating to the franchise passing up on Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum earlier than the 2017 NBA Draft.
Johnson claimed that Tatum was invited to a exercise and that Los Angeles was too “ahead heavy” with gamers similar to Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr. crowding up the roster. Tatum’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, acknowledged the reality inside Johnson’s retelling of the previous however claims some context was nonetheless lacking.
“Magic’s appropriate in what he mentioned, however the best way it was offered was somewhat totally different,” Wechsler advised SiriusXM NBA Radio on Tuesday. “And everybody is aware of that the draft begins in June and guys end on the finish of March Insanity and so they work out for months. Nicely, Jayson labored out in L.A. for months coaching with Drew Hanlen there and the Lakers knew that he was in L.A. and by no means referred to as, and in late June they referred to as and needed to deliver him in for a exercise. However by that point, everybody knew that they had been taking Lonzo Ball.”
Wechsler added: “(I advised Johnson), ‘Nicely, in case you’re not gonna take my man, he’s been on the market all summer season, he’s now in St. Louis, he’s understanding for different groups. I’m not gonna fly him again throughout the nation for a exercise whenever you guys aren’t gonna take him. And that’s the way it went down.”
Tatum had simply wrapped up his freshman season at Duke and the draft lottery granted the Celtics, Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers the primary, second and third picks, respectively. Boston traded down from No. 1 to No. 3, leading to Markelle Fultz going first general to Philadelphia, Ball going second to Los Angeles and Tatum going third to the Celtics. But, that wasn’t the imaginative and prescient that the then-19-year-old Tatum had on the time.
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Throughout a podcast look alongside former Boston teammate Jeff Teague, Tatum defined how trying as much as Kobe Bryant all through his childhood influenced him to sometime sport a Lakers jersey.
“For me, I grew up a Kobe fan. Like, I at all times needed to play for the Lakers,” Tatum mentioned on the “Membership 520” podcast in November. “So for them to have the No. 2 decide and it was prefer it wasn’t even a thought that I used to be going to get drafted, that was type of devastating so I by no means labored out for the Lakers. They by no means got here to observe me work out.”
Tatum’s coach, Hanlen, additionally backed up Wechsler’s facet of the story.
“I’m not gonna overspeak, however (Johnson’s story isn’t true),” Hanlen advised the “First to the Flooring” podcast. “Jayson grew up a Kobe fan. We’re understanding in Los Angeles. The one crew that didn’t go go to him within the prime 4 was Los Angeles so there wasn’t curiosity there. … The Kobe connection and it made a lot sense however what Magic mentioned, that was not 100% correct. I simply keep in mind being in these conversations and the reality was they did on the finish type of attain out and say like, ‘Hey, we’d love to return and cease by.’”
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The ping-pong balls fell in favor of the Celtics and Tatum on lottery evening because the 26-year-old has grown to turn out to be a five-time All-Star, NBA champion, and an all-time Boston nice in simply eight years within the league. Tatum was additionally rewarded with a record-large $315 million supermax extension this previous offseason, the biggest ever signed in NBA historical past.
Los Angeles, alternatively, traded Ball in 2019 as a part of its blockbuster deal for Anthony Davis — and will use Tatum’s companies proper about now, too.
