Jayson Tatum is very pleased that the Celtics have so much faith in him by giving him the biggest contract in NBA history.

Celtics' Jayson Tatum smiling, with a ton of cash and multiple Larry O'Brien trophies all over him

The punitive new CBA rules have made it difficult for a few high-spending teams with contending aspirations to keep their core intact. The Boston Celtics, however, are showing that money is temporary, but flags fly forever. (Or in the case of the NBA, banners hang forever.) Despite the prohibitive luxury tax costs, the Celtics decided to sign their core players to huge extensions, with the latest being Jayson Tatum who re-upped with the team on a five-year, $314 million deal — the biggest contract in NBA history hitherto.

For Tatum, he sees his brand new extension as a huge show of faith from the Celtics franchise, and now, he can focus all his attention on performing at his best to re-establish the Celtics dynasty.
“For me just to feel wanted, and they want me to be here and want me for the long haul. I’ll spend my whole career here and have got nothing but love for the fans, the city, and the organization. You know, we just won a championship and I want to try to win as many as I can,” Tatum said, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.

Jayson Tatum had only two years remaining on his previous deal, so the Celtics saw that keeping the 26-year-old in town for the long haul was something that was needed to be done. Even though the Celtics recently climbed the league’s mountaintop, winning the franchise’s 18th championship with a demolition of the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals, they are sensing an opportunity to win multiple titles in the next few years.

Tatum and Jaylen Brown are under contract together for the Celtics until at least the 2028-29 season; these two are good enough and right in the middle of their prime that they should have a few more cracks at another Larry O’Brien trophy over the next five years.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown got it done for the Celtics

It may have taken the Celtics a few playoff heartbreaks, but in 2024, they finally broke through, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two of the best wings in today’s NBA, winning their first NBA championship.

Not too long ago, some were pointing out the possibility that the Celtics break up the partnership between Tatum and Brown. But the Celtics stayed the course and the two steered the ship of a deep Boston team that, despite going relatively unnoticed compared to other all-time great teams, was one of the best teams in the history of the association.

Who the best player on the team is does not matter for both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as they know that they need each other for the Celtics to be at their best. Brown may have overshadowed Tatum during the 2024 NBA playoffs, with Brown taking Conference Finals and Finals MVP honors, but Tatum still made sure to do his part even if his shooting deserted him at times during their run to the championship.

Tatum’s playmaking has developed so much to the point that he had multiple games of over 10 assists in the 2024 NBA playoffs, with two of those games coming in the NBA Finals. He has cut a lot of the hero ball out of his game, trusting his teammates more and more.

Jayson Tatum will be making an average of $62.8 million from 2025 to 2030, should he decide to pick up his player option worth a staggering $71.4 million for the 2029-30 campaign. It’s unclear how the financial landscape of the NBA would look by then and how Tatum’s contract will be looking relative to that and his performance. But Tatum will only be 31 years old entering that season, so he should be well worth that contract especially if the Celtics continue to reign atop the Eastern Conference.

JT looking to capture his second Olympic gold for Team USA

Jayson Tatum was part of the worst team the USAMNT put together in recent memory in 2019, when they finished seventh in the FIBA World Cup. Tatum was unable to contribute his best at the time after he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the court.

In 2021, Tatum bounced back as part of the Team USA roster that took home the gold in the Tokyo Olympics. Now, Tatum is back as he looks to become one of the rare players to win an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year (if Team USA snags the gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Celtics star would become just the seventh player in history to accomplish the feat).