Tatum Rewrites Another Chapter of C's History While Advancing to 5-0

Jayson Tatum has been rewriting the Celtics’ history books since he entered the NBA in 2017. Saturday night, he added another chapter to the story.

For his latest historical feat, Tatum became the youngest player in franchise history to reach 10,000 career points. He surpassed 10k in style with a spinning, and-one layup at the 5:05 mark of the second quarter of Boston’s 124-114 win over the Nets on Saturday. The free throw got him to the magic number, and to even more Celtics history.

“That’s special. That’s cool,” Tatum said of the accomplishment just moments after the win. “I’ve just been blessed to be in a great franchise. I’ve had some great teammates, some great coaches, that have contributed to helping me get 10,000 career points.”

Humble as ever, Tatum leaves it to others to give him the credit he is due. So we will.

Since entering the league as the third overall pick in 2017, the superstar wing has gotten better and better by the year. That development continues to this day.

Tatum has turned into a dominant scorer at all three levels and has increased his scoring total during each of his first six seasons. After leading the league in total points last season with 2,225, all while becoming the first Celtics player to ever average 30.0 points per game for a season, Tatum appears on track to surpass those numbers this season. Through five games, he is averaging 30.2 PPG with career-best shooting numbers – by a long shot.

Tatum’s true shooting percentage this season is 67.7 percent. His previous high in that category? That would be 60.7 percent, set last season. Saturday night was the latest evidence of this high level of efficiency and continued evolution as an elite scorer.

He entered the contest needing 16 points to reach the 10,000-point barrier. He doubled that number by dropping 32 points on the Nets on insane shooting splits. He connected on half of his 20 shot attempts, shot 60 percent from long range (6-for-10), and dropped all six of his free throws through the net. All of his points were either scored at the rim, from beyond the 3-point arc, or from the free-throw line.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

This is the type of scoring ability that has allowed a player like Tatum to not only rewrite Boston’s history books, but to do so in convincing fashion.

Tatum reached the 10,000-point mark Saturday night at 25 years, 246 days old. The next-youngest player in team history to reach the 10k mark was Antoine Walker, at 26 years, 131 days old, nearly a year older.

The historical context doesn’t end with the Celtics, either. It continues to an NBA perspective.

While becoming the youngest player in Celtics history to reach 10,000 points, Tatum also became the 10^th-youngest in NBA history to reach the mark. The names ahead of him are a who’s who of NBA royalty and young stars who are sure to be royalty by the time their careers come to an end: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker, Dwight Howard and Bob McAdoo.

This doesn’t happen by mistake. Joe Mazzulla made sure to let everyone know Saturday night that Tatum’s accomplishments are a byproduct of his elite work ethic and pursuit of greatness.

“He shows up to work every single day, he puts the work in, he dedicates his life to it, he doesn’t miss days, he doesn’t miss practices, games,” Mazzulla said. “And just his open-mindedness of wanting to be coached, and wanting to be held to a high standard … He’s one of the guys that sets the tone for us, because he’s willing to be pushed to the ultimate level, and it allows us to do that for everybody.”

Tatum already is the ultimate level, and if he has it his way, that point total will continue popping for years to come.

“Hopefully,” he said in his humble yet confident tone, “I’ve got a lot more to go, and a lot more games to win.”