Was Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Recruiting This NBA Center?

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Jayson Tatum would probably love to runite with Harry Giles in Boston

As the season of NBA speculation continues, Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum could be spending his off-season doing a bit of recruiting for his storied franchise.

Through an overreacting lens, Tatum’s recent Retweet on social media caused a stir Saturday afternoon when he posted a goat emoji accompanying Ballislife.com’s video of Sacramento Kings center Harry Giles’ high school highlight reel. Some viewed the All-Star’s tweet as a potential hint for the Celtics, a team that’s in the market for help in the frontcourt and could certainly use a boost at its center position.

For those wondering the obvious: yes, Giles is an unrestricted free agent.  Coming off of his rookie-scale, a three-year contract worth roughly $2.2 million per, with the Kings, Giles averaged 6.9 points, 4.1 rebounds in 14.3 minutes last season for Sacramento.

Jayson Tatum & Harry Giles’ Relationship Prior To The NBA

Giles, who played alongside Tatum at Duke in 2016-17, was a five-star recruit before uniting with the soon-to-be NBA standout in Durham, North Carolina.

In high school, Giles, unfortunately, underwent season-ending surgery after suffering an ACL injury and missed his entire senior year at Oak Hill.

Still, he entered college as the nation’s second highest-touted prospect, per 247sports.com. However, unlike his collegiate teammate, his game at the pro-level hasn’t created any significant buzz.

Jayson Tatum: ‘Harry (Giles) Was The Only Player I Would’ve Said In High School, ‘Yeah, He Might Be Better Than Me”

But that hasn’t faltered Tatum’s admiration for Giles, who played a big part in Tatum’s decision to commit to Duke, and he recently admitted that, in high school, Giles was the biggest reason why Tatum didn’t think he was the nation’s best basketball prospect.

“Harry was the only player I would’ve said in high school, ‘Yeah, he might be better than me,’” Tatum said on The Ringer’s The Bill Simmons Podcast. “Our senior year he didn’t play one game, and he was still ranked No.1.”

In 2017, the Celtics drafted Tatum with the No. 3 pick and Giles was selected at No. 20 for the Portland Trail Blazers before he was sent to Sacramento.

After the All-Star break, Giles saw a significant uptick in playing time when his numbers leaped to 14.5 points, 7.8 rebounds while shooting over 60% from the floor. The Kings finished 6-1 throughout the seven-game span, including a win on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sacramento Kings Introduce New GM Monte McNair

The Kings, a team currently under new management after longtime General Manager Vlade Divac stepped down over the summer, introduced Monte McNair as their new GM last month. McNair, who detailed his vision of the 2020-21 campaign, including head coach Luke Walton’s status as head coach and the team’s core players, including De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, could have a hard time retaining Giles’ services if it’s even on the team’s radar this off-season.

Because Sacramento failed to pick up its team-option to keep Giles with the Kings, at least, through 2022, it’s going to be difficult for Sacramento to out-bid potential suitors. Given Tatum’s relationship with Giles, maybe Jayson is pulling for Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to give it some thought.

Or maybe, Tatum was just giving his boy a shoutout on social media and we’re looking way too deep into this. My guess is; it’s probably either one of the two.

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