Jayson Tatum

One sometimes-forgotten beauty of the NBA’s season-by-season saga is that even after 78 seasons of fascinating subplots, one can never safely assume they’ve seen it all. With basketball’s entire stratosphere studying his Boston Celtics and their two-peat potential, Jayson Tatum used October 22, 2024 to introduce an example through, perhaps, a never-before-seen storyline: a player on a “revenge tour” after winning the NBA championship. Flipping his switch to “midseason form” just 12 seconds into 2024-25’s opener, Tatum — as evidenced through both the clock and his noticeably-quicker release — wasted zero time, punishing Karl-Anthony Towns’ drop coverage decision with a pull-up triple. The celebratory, playful punches and admiration of the championship ring attached to his finger proved poetic, as Tatum handed the New York Knicks everything it could handle over the ensuing two-and-a-half hours, dealing blow-after-blow. Ahead by plenty, and able to admire his work from the sidelines throughout the final frame, Tatum’s role was demonstrative in a statement win that saw Boston tie NBA history’s single-game 3-point makes record (29). Both unmissable and incapable of missing, Tatum’s final tally included: 37 points (on 14-of-18 overall, and 8-of-11 from deep), four rebounds, 10 assists, one steal, one block, and a +26 plus-minus.