Jayson Tatum shows love to 3 Lakers icons while assembling hypothetical 5-on-5 pickup game of his dreams

Jayson Tatum’s dream pickup basketball game would feature three Los Angeles Lakers legends. During a recent appearance on “Crawford’s Couch” with Jamal Crawford, Tatum listed the nine players he’d like to share a court with in order to create the perfect pickup game, and Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Magic Johnson all made the cut.

In addition to those three Lakers legends, Tatum’s list included two other active players in Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Other league legends Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Penny Hardaway and Gilbert Arenas were also included. Tatum also revealed that he wears No. 0 because of Arenas, who sported the number throughout his career.

In all, Tatum’s list contains a nice mix of current and retired players, and it would certainly make for an unbelievable pickup game. Unfortunately, a simulation on NBA 2K is the closest that the game will ever come to actually occurring.

Meanwhile, in reality, Tatum and the Celtics have gotten off to a great start to the 2023-24 NBA season. Nearly a quarter of the way through the season, the Celtics sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 15-4 record. They’re a perfect 9-0 at home and 14-3 against other teams in the East.

Tatum appears to be well on his way to another All-Star appearance. The star forward is averaging 27.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 36.5 minutes per performance for Boston. If Tatum continues to play at an elite level and the Celtics continue their winning ways, he’ll likely find himself right in the thick of the MVP conversation at the end of the season.

The Celtics haven’t squared off against the Lakers yet this season, but the two teams will meet twice. The first matchup will occur in Los Angeles on Christmas Day, while the second meeting will take place in Boston on Feb. 1. Meetings between the Celtics and Lakers tend to be must-see television given the history between the teams and the amount of star power on both sides.

It will be interesting to see where the two teams sit in the standings in their respective conferences when that Christmas Day matchup rolls around. The Lakers are currently seventh in the Western Conference with a 12-9 record.