Jayson Tatum became an All-Star in Boston, but revealed that he wanted to go to the Phoenix Suns during the 2017 NBA Draft work-outs.
Tatum talked to the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson about the 2017 Draft and how he almost ended up playing in the desert of Arizona, per Arizona Sports:
“Earl [Watson’s] my guy. I went to dinner with him,” Tatum told Matt and Stephen. “The next day, I remember he picked me up, he had a white [Mercedes-Benz] G Wagon, he drove me around and showed me like all the houses where the players live at.
I called my fam, my mom, I’m like, ‘Yo, I think I want to go to Phoenix.’ Earl Watson, he’s like, ‘You come to Phoenix, you and D-Book, two light-skinned killers, I’mma let y’all rock out,'” Tatum said. “I’m sitting in the car, like, ‘This sounds good! I think I want to come here.'”
The forward was almost sure that he wanted to play in Phoenix, but a call from his agent and the Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski convinced him to go to the Boston Celtics’ work-out.
Therefore, the Celtics selected him as the third overall pick, with Phoenix getting Josh Jackson fourth in the 2017 NBA draft.
