"Thought he was a radio guy" - Jayson Tatum reveals being clueless about 2x NBA champion when he got drafted by Celtics in '17

Jayson Tatum entered the league when he was just 19 years old. At that age, Tatum was young enough to play great basketball but he wasn't old enough to understand and appreciate what the Boston Celtics represented in the NBA. Before Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals, Tatum told reporters that he didn’t even know who Cedric Maxwell was when he entered the league.

A reporter asked Tatum what it was like to be drafted by the Celtics in 2017 and his experience in his rookie season. The Celtics star said that he was so uneducated about the team that he thought Cedric Maxwell was a radio guy:

“I will say just that throughout that season, I had no idea who Cedric Maxwell was. I thought he was just a radio guy and I didn’t know he had played on a team and he won Finals MVP.".

The Celtics star also said that in his rookie season he learned about the people and the players who played an integral part in building the Celtics culture.

Maxwell is considered one of the greatest Celtics players. He is a two-time NBA champion (1981 and 1984) and won the Finals MVP in 1981. The Celtics retired his No. 31 jersey in 2003.

Despite being 19 at the time, Jayson Tatum had to take most of the offensive responsibilities. He led his team to the 2017-18 Eastern Conference finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers but was eliminated in seven games.

Cedric Maxwell recalls his interaction with Jayson Tatum after ‘30 for 30’ documentary

It didn’t take much time for Jayson Tatum to know that he had misrecognized the Celtics legend, Cedric Maxwell. In one of the episodes of NBA History & Storytellers on CLNS in 2022, Maxwell recalled the time Tatum finally recognized him.

Maxwell said that it was true that Tatum didn’t know him. However, the young star got to know the legend after watching the ‘30 for 30’ documentary, which captures the greatest moments in sports history. The Celtics legend said that when Jayson Tatum saw him, he called him by his nickname, ‘Cornbread’.

"He really didn’t know who I was," Maxwell said of Tatum. "So after the 30 for 30, I’m out on the court before a game. He’s walking in to shoot around, and he says, 'Cornbread, Cornbread.' I looked at him, and I'm like 'what’s wrong with you today?' He said, 'Man, I saw that 30 for 30. Damn, you were a bad motherf***er, man.' He didn’t even know who I was."

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Maxwell played eight seasons with the Boston Celtics, averaging 13.7 points per game on 55.9% shooting. He also averaged 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.