How Jayson Tatum and the 2017 NBA draft fuels the storied Celtics-Lakers rivalry

MONTHS REMOVED FROM a second-round exit in the NCAA tournament, ending his freshman season at Duke University, 19-year-old Jayson Tatum relocated from Cameron Indoor Stadium to a tiny gym in Playa del Rey, California, to continue his path toward his dream job in the NBA.

It was May 2017. Three teams — the Boston Celtics (who held the No. 1 pick), the Philadelphia 76ers (No. 3) and the Phoenix Suns (No. 4) — sent groups to observe the 6-foot-8 standout at St. Bernard High School, just north of Los Angeles International Airport.

The one team who didn’t? The one whose practice facility is just five miles down the road: the Los Angeles Lakers.

The other contingents flew into town to observe the workouts run by Tatum’s longtime trainer Drew Hanlen. The Suns and Celtics later scheduled a second look, with Tatum flying to visit them.

The Lakers, who had the No. 2 pick, were noticeably absent. Tatum, whose childhood bedroom in St. Louis doubled as a Kobe Bryant shrine, felt snubbed. “That was kind of devastating,” Tatum told the Club 520 Podcast, hosted by Jeff Teague, in November.

He’d hoped to accomplish one of two goals in the draft, sources told ESPN: either go No. 1 or be selected by the Lakers to follow in Bryant’s footsteps, just a year after the all-time great retired from the league.

Neither happened.

Instead, Tatum ended up in green and white — at the No. 3 pick. The Celtics moved down in the draft and still got the player they wanted — the player who has become a cornerstone in their rise back to the top of the league, and who just last summer helped them take back the lead in the category these storied franchises value most: championships.

Tatum was still on the board on draft night when the Lakers picked at No. 2. They didn’t take him, a sliding-doors moment that might have been avoided with a different approach from a front office that was installed in the middle of Tatum’s lone college season.

What is certain, as the two teams prepare to meet Thursday in Los Angeles, is that the 2017 draft has become a defining moment in the NBA’s greatest rivalry.

JEFF WECHSLER DOESN’T remember who initially sent him the clip last month of Magic Johnson rehashing his version of how the 2017 draft played out when he was starting his two-year stint as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations.

But Wechsler certainly remembers his response to it.

“I was like, ‘Well, it’s not factually correct,'” Wechsler, who has been Tatum’s agent his entire career, told ESPN. “Parts of it were correct, but it wasn’t the sequence or the cadence of what happened.”

Johnson said, during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA radio, that the Lakers were “top-heavy in forwards” and L.A. “couldn’t take [Tatum]’.” L.A.’s roster featured second-year forward Brandon Ingram, fourth-year forward Julius Randle and third-year forward Larry Nance Jr. at the time.

Johnson continued: “His agent, also, didn’t want us to work him out because he didn’t want him to end up with the Lakers because we were already top-heavy with forwards.”

Wechsler objects. He recalls a different set of events.

The draft was June 22. Rob Pelinka — now the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager, but then just the GM — texted Wechsler in early June to express the Lakers’ interest in Tatum. Wechsler was open to sharing medical information with the team, he said, confident that the left foot sprain that limited Tatum to start the season at Duke had healed.

But he also knew the Lakers had their heart set on another freshman, Lonzo Ball out of UCLA. It was an open secret across the league.

“The whole time it was just so obvious they were taking Lonzo,” a front office executive, whose team had a lottery pick that year, said. “It didn’t feel like they had a difficult time deciding that. Every indication we had from after the lottery was Lonzo was going to the Lakers. And it never changed.”

There were clues that supported Wechsler’s intuition. Pelinka and Johnson had taken Johnson’s private jet to scout Ball when he played against De’Aaron Fox and the University of Kentucky, sources told ESPN. The Lakers’ brass had also seen Ball for two workouts — one at the team’s facility and another in his hometown in nearby Chino Hills — which was the maximum allowed. And all of their workouts with other top prospects were with guards, not forwards, sources said. They worked out Fox, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson (considered a swingman who could play the 2 or the 3). They didn’t work out Lauri Markkanen or Jonathan Isaac, another Wechsler client.

It had become a narrative: The Lakers would fill a roster hole, and satisfy their long-held ethos for “the story,” by selecting the hometown player. The writing on the wall was, to Wechsler, permanent.

He told Pelinka he’d speak with them the following day. Wechsler wasn’t interested in appearances — or optics.

“The draft is 12 days away,” he said. “Kid’s been working out since he got done after March Madness. … In L.A. all that time.”

Pelinka had reached out a few times, according to Wechsler. First, in April, to congratulate him on signing Tatum and Isaac — then on June 5, again on June 9 and again June 10. Wechsler, who had once worked for the same agency as Pelinka, told his former colleague he was happy to share information about Tatum with him but wouldn’t schedule a workout because it was obvious to him that L.A. was selecting Ball. Pelinka insisted the Lakers were still looking at everyone. Wechsler was skeptical, but out of respect told him that if Johnson could convince him L.A. was aligned with Tatum as a real option, he could change his mind.

They all got on a call together on June 13, nine days before the draft.

“I talked to Magic, and Magic basically said what he said [on the radio], that we’re deep at forward, we’re going to take a point guard,” Wechsler said. “So at that point I was like, well, then there’s no reason for him to come in. And I’m sure Rob was banging his head when that was all said on the phone. Because Rob was on the phone also.”

Sources close to the Lakers’ front office at that time told ESPN they do not recall anybody from that group saying that a decision was made that far in advance of the draft, let alone sharing it with the outside world.

HANLEN AND PELINKA spoke about Tatum at a Duke-NC State game while Tatum was still in college. Hanlen was visiting Durham to help Tatum tinker with his mechanics to get out of a shooting slump. Pelinka, yet to be hired by the Lakers and still working as a player agent, was there to recruit Tatum as a client. Hanlen says he believes that had Pelinka remained an agent, rather than taking the job with L.A.’s front office the next February, Tatum would have signed with him.

“I mean, he had the ultimate trump card,” Hanlen told ESPN. “He had Kobe Bryant.”

While Pelinka maintained communication with Hanlen when Tatum was working out at St. Bernard, Wechsler told him that he would be welcome to have the Lakers come as long as Johnson also expressed interest. “Obviously, we heard the rumblings that they wanted Lonzo and to put butts in the seats and stuff like that, being a hometown guy,” Hanlen said. “[Wechsler] never got that reassurance. … He thought that Magic had a lot of power. … And Magic wouldn’t do it.”

The teams that did attend got a show. Hanlen said then-76ers coach Brett Brown told him, “This is the most NBA-ready skilled player that I’ve ever seen entering the draft.” (Hanlen, who also trains Joel Embiid, also considers another alternate history: “I begged the Sixers to draft Jayson because I knew that pairing Jayson and Joel up … I really thought that they would be the biggest tandem in the NBA.”)

The Celtics, who had some concerns about Tatum’s shooting after he made only 34.2% of his college 3s, were impressed with his improvement. “He shot it really well,” a Celtics source said. “We had him shoot some more, he shot it really well still. It was a really good workout. He was going to be a really good player. It was very obvious.”

He shot it so well during his Suns workout that former Phoenix owner Robert Sarver interrupted it to ask to see different drills, multiple sources with knowledge of the workout said.

“He starts in the left corner and it’s like pop-a-shot. It’s unbelievable,” one Suns source said. “It’s like Jayson Tatum, ‘bing, bing, bing.’ Right after another. And we’re sitting there saying, ‘Holy s—, there aren’t many guys in the NBA, even elite current NBA players, who can do what this kid’s doing at 19 years old.'”

Tatum hit 43 out of 50 from the left corner, the Suns source said. Hanlen remembers 47 out of 50. When Tatum made his way to the left wing for his next batch of 3s, the owner piped up.

“[Sarver] goes, ‘All right, yeah, we’ve seen enough of that,'” the source continued. “‘We know he can shoot, what else can he do?'”

“I remember Jayson looked at me and I literally go, ‘F— him. We got our workout,'” Hanlen said. “And I said, ‘You’re not going to be there at No. 4 anyway. Keep shooting.'”

The Celtics, who had the No. 1 pick, were locked in. By that time, not only was it common knowledge that L.A. wanted Ball at No. 2, but that Philadelphia’s top choice would be Fultz if he fell to No. 3. Fultz, a 6-foot-4 point guard with a gift for scoring, was considered to be the consensus No. 1 pick.

The Monday before the draft, Boston traded the No. 1 pick to Philly for No. 3, and a future first-round pick.

As a condition of the trade, sources said, 76ers GM Bryan Colangelo had to assure the Celtics’ brass — Danny Ainge, assistant GM Austin Ainge and vice president of basketball operations Mike Zarren — that his team would choose Fultz. Boston did not engage in the same trade talk with the Lakers at No. 2, sources said, because they were so sure L.A. was taking Ball that they knew they could still get their guy in Tatum at No. 3.

Still, in a last-ditch effort, Pelinka contacted Weschler again. Tatum had already gone home to St. Louis before heading to New York for the draft when, on June 14, Pelinka invited Tatum to fly back to L.A. to finally work out for the Lakers, Wechsler said. Pelinka proposed that Tatum could fly out to L.A. on Friday, June 16, spend two hours with him, Magic, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and then-coach Luke Walton on Saturday touring the new practice facility and then doing some light shooting drills before flying back.

Wechsler said Pelinka also mentioned he had other workouts set at the end of the week for players L.A. was evaluating with their other pick at the end of the first round, No. 28 — or else he would fly to St. Louis to see Tatum there.

Wechsler didn’t bite. “Magic had already told me he wasn’t taking him,” Wechsler said. “And Rob’s here saying, ‘I can’t reschedule because I got the 28th pick coming in.’ That’s what was off-putting in that whole thing.”

Eight days later, Fultz went No. 1 to Philadelphia, Ball went No. 2 to L.A., Tatum went No. 3 to Boston and Jackson went No. 4 to Phoenix.

Eight years later, Fultz is out of the league; Jackson is out of the league; Ball is on his third team, having sat out two full seasons because of knee issues.

Tatum is a five-time All-Star. He has led Boston to seven straight playoff appearances, five conference finals, two NBA Finals and he helped them hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June, beating the Dallas Mavericks in five games to take the title.

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EPIC NBA WHAT-IFS litter basketball history. Few, however, feature teams with an 80-year rivalry and 35 combined championships.

Johnson, for his part, says he believes Tatum wouldn’t have made the impact on the Lakers that he has in Boston. “We would have never seen this Tatum if he had ended up with the Lakers,” Johnson told SiriusXM. “Because he would have been sitting on that bench.”

Extend the alternate history one reasonable step further: Even if Johnson’s right, and the combination of Ingram, Randle and Nance would’ve stunted Tatum’s now-Hall-of-Fame worthy career, what would have happened in 2018, when LeBron James signed with L.A.? The Lakers traded Ball, Ingram and other assets to acquire Anthony Davis in 2019 from the New Orleans Pelicans.

Hanlen says the Davis trade might not have happened. “I really think that if anyone that saw Jayson enough, just saw how special he was, how skilled he was, how polished he was, how professional he was, how he carried himself, how he worked, I don’t think you trade that away,” Hanlen said.

For now, the individual scoreboard is tied. Davis helped the Lakers to a title in 2020. Tatum was instrumental in the Celtics’ championship in 2024. But one title doesn’t cut it. Not for these franchises, at least.

This season’s Celtics team is 30-13. The Lakers are 23-18. And the championship count is 18 for Boston and 17 for L.A.

And as apparent as the Lakers’ ranking of Ball above Tatum was, it’s just as obvious now which team is better equipped to increase its title total.

“Boston knows who they are,” James said this week, previewing the matchup. “We’re still learning, getting better with what we want to do. … They’re in another place than we are.”

Still, the rivalry continues to stir.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s at a peak or anything, but it’s always a fun game and it’s always great,” Ainge told ESPN. “… And it’s 18 championships to 12 championships. You don’t think the citizens of L.A. care about Minneapolis, do you?”