Whether or not the Celtics win the NBA Finals, which begin on Thursday at TD Garden, will go a long way toward determining how Jayson Tatum stands up subjectively in franchise history.
Objectively, whether Boston wins or not, Tatum is set to leap over several Celtics legends, whose retired numbers Tatum will play under in Games 1,2, 5 and 7.
Tatum is currently 41st in career playoff points in NBA history with an even 2,600. He needs one point to catch No. 40 Kevin Garnett (2,601) and 73 to match No. 39 Bill Russell (2,673). Ray Allen, who is No. 38, had 2,749, which could be too many for Tatum to reach this year, but he’s not far off.
Patrick Ewing (2,813) breaks up a run of Celtics at No. 37. Robert Parish is No. 36 with 2,820.
Tatum has averaged 24.1 points per playoff game in his career and 26.0 PPG in the 2024 postseason. If he maintains the average and the series goes seven games, he’d get all way to 2,782 points. At 26 years old, he could eventually climb pretty high on the list.
LeBron James is the career leader with 8,162 points. Larry Bird is the Celtics’ all-time leader with 3,897. Tatum is currently ninth among active players.
