Jayson Tatum has led his team to the NBA Finals after struggling in the East for four years. The Boston Celtics are now three wins closer to their 18th title after beating the Golden State Warriors in Game 1. In the last two rounds of the playoffs, the Celtics had pushed both the series to seven games.

Their journey so far has been incredible and coming into the Finals, they are now making a statement as a young roster. Though apart from all the players, Tatum has an interesting story. Jayson admires Kobe Bryant from his heart and he even wore Kobe’s armband before Game 7 of the East Finals. During Celtics’ practice after Game 1, Tatum showed his respect for Kobe yet again.

Tatum wore the same T-shirt that Kobe Bryant wore in 1996

Kobe had various workouts with different teams before he was drafted. Coming out of high school, teams wanted to make sure that he was NBA-ready. Bryant had a pre-draft workout with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Celtics. After considering his age and game, a few of the teams weren’t sure if he would be a good fit. In the end, he was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Though when the Celtics wanted to test him out, they had set up a pre-draft workout for Bryant. During that workout, Bryant wore a Celtics practice t-shirt that had a classic Celtics logo. After signing deals with a few brands for jerseys and practice gear for every team, the same t-shirt is not available for everyday practice. Tatum was seen wearing the same t-shirt, the only difference being the Nike logo.

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Jayson is a big fan of Kobe Bryant

Tatum’s favorite player growing up was Bryant. He idolized Kobe and wanted to be like him. After years, his game does remind fans of Kobe. To show how much Kobe meant to him, he texted Bryant before Game 7 of the East Finals, “I got you today”. Being a fan of the Mamba, he’s got one job at the moment, win a championship.

Bryant won his first ring in his fourth season. This is Tatum’s fifth season and fifth postseason as well. After the Game 1 performance from the Celtics, critics and fans were amazed. With Game 2 to tipoff in less than 24 hours, it will be interesting to see if the Celtics can continue to play the same game versus the Warriors.

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