Jayson Tatum Includes 4 Lakers as He Lists His Top 5 Players of All Time

Robert Marvi
2 Min Read

Jayson Tatum may play for the Boston Celtics, but when asked to name his top five NBA players of all time, he gave plenty of love to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Other than Michael Jordan, all the players Tatum named have worn the Purple and Gold at one time or another.

Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all solidified their legacies for eternity by leading the Lakers to at least one NBA championship over the Celtics.

Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar first did it in 1985, making those Lakers the first team ever to defeat Boston in the NBA Finals. L.A. clinched the title at Boston Garden in Game 6 that year.

For averaging 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists a game while shooting 60.4 percent, Abdul-Jabbar was named the series MVP. The fact that he did it at age 38 is one of the more improbable individual feats in basketball lore.

Of course, Bryant validated his entire career and legacy by leading the Lakers to a Game 7 win over Boston in the 2010 NBA Finals.

It remains to be seen if LeBron James will ever win a championship over the Celtics, or even get the opportunity to do so.

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Robert is a native of Santa Monica, Calif., and a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has been an avid NBA fan since he was a little kid in the mid '90s and fell in love with the Nick Van Exel-led Lakers teams. He truly cherishes the Kobe Bryant-era of Lakers basketball and the five world championships that came with it, and is looking forward to the team's next NBA title.