The Mavericks’ rookie sensation, Dereck Lively II, is the latest name in the long line of Duke graduates in the NBA. Over the years, the NBA has witnessed multiple players coming from Duke and flourishing in the league. The 20-year-old was asked to mention the elite ones in his recent interview, and he shockingly neglected the name of the Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
While mentioning his Mount Rushmore of Duke players, Lively took his teammate Kyrie Irving’s name first. Followed by former NBA great Grant Hill, Pelicans’ Zion Williamson, and Magic’s forward Paolo Banchero.
While speaking highly of the above-mentioned players, Lively didn’t take the new NBA champion Tatum’s name. This disappointed the social media fans who lashed out at the Mavs center in the comments of an X (FKA Twitter) post.
“No Tatum?”, asked an astonished fan.
“He salty Tatum clamped him in the finals”, wrote a fan, reminding the Mavericks’ NBA Finals loss to the Celtics.
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“Wonder why he left off Tatum? A little bu**hurt maybe?” questioned a third one.
Surprised with Lively’s choice, another fan added, “Banchero over Tatum? Different type of hating”.
“It’s been a month since the L Lively let it go”, suggested someone.
One fan stated, “so someone’s salty they lost to the Celtics”
While someone sarcastically commented, “That is his own Mt. Rushmore, respect him for that
Must’ve been hurting still losing against the best Duke player in the Finals”.
https://x.com/prism_mr/status/1813025634639307174
Jayson Tatum Remains Unfazed About Competition
Defending the title can be just as difficult as winning it. The Celtics will experience this next season. With teams improving around the league, the challenge will be tougher than ever, but that did not faze Tatum.
During a recent appearance on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast, Tatum discussed his feelings about defending the chip next season. “I see all the changes and people switching teams and obviously teams are getting better and that’s every offseason,” Tatum told hosts Carmelo Anthony and Kid Mero.
“You don’t ever want to disrespect who you’re playing. But with that being said, we won. Like, when you win a championship, you get to talk how you want to talk, respectfully. They’ve got to go through us,” a confident JT declared.
Tatum’s current focus is on the USA team’s Paris Olympics bid. Fellow Celtics Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are also on the mission with him but expect things to change once the campaign is over, and all focus shifts to next season.
