As Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, among others, are on the injury report for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, fans are still reeling over the win against the Portland Trail Blazers. Celtics’ Derrick White and Payton Pritchard would go off in the victory leading Colin Cowherd to talk about the team and Tatum, comparing him to Dallas Mavericks star Klay Thompson.
On his show “The Herd,” Cowherd would talk about Boston and even go into why he doesn’t think Tatum is a superstar in regards to the NBA. Here, he would make the comparison that while he is a “tremendous player,” he’s “closer to Klay in his prime” than Stephen Curry when both were on Warriors in their best years.
“I love Tatum, he’d make every team in the league. He’s a tremendous player,” Cowherd said. “I think he’s closer to like Klay Thompson. Now he’s better than Klay Thompson. When Klay Thompson was the best two guard in the league, I had said at the time, he’s the only player in the NBA you could put on every team and it wouldn’t affect the team. It would just make them better. If you put LeBron on every single team, it would screw up some teams because, he in his prime, was the ecosystem for ever offense.”
“You could just put Klay Thompson on any team in the league and be like yep, we got the best catch and shoot guy, best #2 defender in the league,” Cowherd continued. “So I think that’s Jayson Tatum. I think Jayson Tatum is actually closer to Klay in his prime than Steph in his prime.”
He would go on to compare statistics where without Tatum, Boston averages more points, better field goal, and three-point percentage.
“It’s not Tatum, it’s THE TEAM”@ColinCowherd explains why the Celtics’ best asset is their depth pic.twitter.com/SmsQv7Clft
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) March 6, 2025
Colin Cowherd explains comparison involving Celtics’ Jayson Tatum
Funny enough, the Celtics trio of Tatum, White, and Pritchard joins the company of Curry, Thompson, and Jordan Poole in finishing “the 2024-25 NBA regular season with at least three players who have knocked down no fewer than 200 triples.” While some may be taken aback by the Tatum and Thompson comparison, Cowherd made sure to mention that it is in no way to put down the Boston star.
“And by the way, before you bang on that Klay Thompson reference,” Cowherd said. “Klay Thompson was a top five or six defender in the league, and the best catch and shoot guy in the league, and is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. So don’t give me this, ‘Jayson Tatum is better than Klay Thompson.’”
“Klay Thompson in his prime, was unbelievable,” Cowherd continued. “Klay Thompson was unbelievable in his prime. He can still drop 24 on any given night. I’m calling the Celtics the greatest roster construction I’ve ever seen, the fact that Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Porzingis can be gone, and Derrick White and Pritchard last night both drop over 40. Nobody could do that.”
Tatum is averaging 26.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Celtics are 44-18 which puts them second in the East before they take on the 76ers.
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