NBA: Boston Celtics Will Retire Jayson Tatum's Jersey At Career's End, Says Former All-Star Forward

Is Jayson Tatum’s no. 0 bound to go up in the rafters inside TD Garden? Former Boston forward thinks so.

The impressive play of the Boston Celtics forward got the attention of former Celtics wingman Antoine Walker that he even thinks that the team will soon hang the jersey number of Tatum once his playing career is over.

In a discussion from First Things First, the 43-year old Walker described the 21-year old Tatum as one of the top five forwards in the Eastern Conference right now and can be considered to be part of an elite class of talents in the league if he can bring the Celtics deep in the playoffs. Currently, Boston is at 41-17 win-loss record, good for fourth in the NBA and third in the Eastern Conference.

The former Duke standout just had his third straight 30-point game after a 33-point outing in the 114-103 win against the Utah Jazz. He also pointed out that the confidence of Tatum should be on a whole new level after being included in the All-Star team joining LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“If he can be a part of making a deep run, then the conversation starts to happen,” said the two-time NBA All-Star. “He did have a great rookie year, he played a huge part of getting them to the Eastern Conference Finals, he had an OK year last year, bounce back year this year to become an All-Star. You got to give him a lot of credit for that.”

The 12-year former pro, though, wanted to see if Tatum will still be able to produce the same output and will sustain the aggressiveness once lead point guard Kemba Walker returns from knee surgery.

“Right now, Jason Tatum will finish his career as a Celtic in that (same) conversation with (Larry) Bird, Paul Pierce, and he’ll be going in the rafters,” he concluded.

Tatum is currently norming 23.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals in 54 games this season for coach Brad Stevens, all as a starter.