Shoutout To The Lakers For Apparently Having Zero Interest In Drafting Jayson Tatum Back In 2017

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The NBA Draft is certainly a crap shoot, regardless of where you're picking. Sure there may be one or two guys every few years that are no-brainer/absolute lock selections, but for everyone else, you make your pick and hope for the best. When you're picking in the high lottery, your decision on that day can impact your franchise forever. Sometimes things work out and it's the best decision a franchise can make, other times the pick ends up being a disaster that sets the franchise back decades.

Back in 2017, the supposed "no brainer" selection was Markelle Fultz. He was billed as the best player in the Draft and as can't miss a prospect as you can have, so it's not as if any team taking him #1 would have been killed for it. That was the consensus at the time. That is of course, unless your name is Danny Ainge and you run the team with the #1 pick. 

We all know how things ultimately shook out and how Danny Ainge pulled off one of the greatest Draft Day heists in recent NBA history, but what we never really got was Jayson Tatum's thoughts on everything that went down. We know that Josh Jackson refused to work out for Ainge/Stevens despite them flying across the country to go see it, but after all these years we hadn't really heard Tatum open up about his pre-Draft process.

Well, now we have

You know, for about 99.9% of my life, I've wished nothing but the worst for the Los Angeles Lakers. They can rest in piss as far as I'm concerned. Even now after all this time, while I love the JJ hire, I wish them nothing but the worst.

But you know what? After hearing that story from Tatum about how the Lakers apparently had zero interest in even going to his pre-draft workout, I'm grateful for them. All I can really say is thank you. 

Thank you for being completely bullied into drafting Lonzo Ball by his dad. Thank you for not understanding where the NBA was headed and how important elite two-way wings would be when it came to roster construction. Thank you for not being smart enough to see the potential in what Jayson Tatum could do in the NBA. And sure, they eventually traded Lonzo for AD and won a Bubble title, but whatever. I think we can all agree not drafting Tatum is on pace to be one of the biggest fumbles in Draft history. People always want to clown on the Sixers for trading up to take Fultz, but let's not let the Lakers off the hook. That was a potential franchise-altering miss. I guess a way to spinzone this for Lakers fans is they just would have traded Tatum for AD anyway, and if that makes you feel better then be my guest.

I get it, Lonzo went to UCLA and was a local guy, but you also had a player in Tatum who clearly dreamed of being a Laker growing up and was one of the best players in the country. How do you not even go to the workout? Even if you're set on drafting Lonzo, wouldn't you just want to make sure you have all the information before making that decision? Now, their fans are subjected to watching him flourish with their arch-rival and to me, it doesn't get much sweeter than that. You can have your Bubble title, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics have a real one. Not to mention the LeBron era is coming to an end before you know it whereas the Tatum Era is just getting started. That has to sting.

It is fun to wonder what might have happened had Josh Jackson not refused that workout. Now, we hear about how Tatum was Ainge's pick the whole time, but you never know. Maybe that workout could have changed history forever, so I suppose I should be thanking Josh Jackson as well.

All I know is, I will be forever grateful for what Danny Ainge did in the 2016 and 2017 Drafts and I will now always use this story as another reason to shit on the Lakers, so really at the end of the day Tatum continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. He's on pace to become one of the greatest Celtics to ever wear the uniform, and there's a world where none of this is possible if the Lakers simply go to a workout. What a blessing.