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Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum‘s agent, Jeff Wechsler, came out in the open to clear the air over Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s claim that they snubbed the Los Angeles Lakers pre-draft workout invitation in 2017.
“Magic’s correct in what he said, but the way it was presented was a little different,” Wechsler said in an interview with SiriusXM’s Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine on Tuesday, December 17.
Johnson, then-Lakers president, passed the blame on Wechsler for why Tatum, who wanted to be a Laker, did not work with them.
“His agent also didn’t want us to work him out because he didn’t want him to end up on the Lakers because we’re already top-heavy with the forwards,” Johnson told SiriusXM NBA Radio on Monday, December 16 addressing Tatum’s hurt feelings.
In November, Tatum said on the “Club 520” podcast he wanted to go to the Lakers instead of the Celtics in 2017.
“For me, I grew up a Kobe fan. Like, I always wanted to play for the Lakers,” Tatum revealed. “So for them to have the No. 2 pick and it was like it wasn’t even a thought that I was going to get drafted, that was kind of devastating, so I never worked out for the Lakers. They never came to watch me work out.”
Lakers Pre-Draft Invitation Came Too Late
To Wechsler’s recollection, the Lakers were too late when they wanted to bring in Tatum for a pre-draft workout.
“Jayson worked out in L.A. for months, training with Drew Hanlen there. And the Lakers knew that he was in L.A. and never called,” Wechsler said. “In late June, they called and wanted to bring him in for a workout. But by that time, everyone knew that they were taking Lonzo Ball. So when [Lakers general manager] Rob Pelinka called me and asked if they could work Jayson out, I said, ‘Well, if you’re not going to take him, why are you working him out?’ And so I said, ‘Get me on a call with Magic, and we’ll talk about it.'”
At the time, the Lakers had a trio of forwards from 2016 No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram, 2014 No. 7 pick Julius Randle to 2015 No. 27 pick Larry Nance Jr. battling for playing time.
The Lakers’ most pressing need is at the point guard position. And Ball, who starred in nearby UCLA as Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year, was Johnson and Lakers’ preferred target at No. 2 at the time.
Lakers’ Loss Was Celtics’ Biggest Gain
Wechsler, who was looking after the best interest of his client, did not waste Tatum’s time and did not want to get his hopes up that his favorite team would select him.
“So [Pelinka] set that up a few days later,” Wechsler continued. He did not beat around the bush and bluntly told Magic, “Everyone knows you’re taking Lonzo Ball.”
“He goes, ‘Yeah, well, we’re really heavy at [the] forward position, and we need to take a point guard, and so that’s probably who we’re going to take,’ he says, ‘but we’d like to take a look at everybody,'” Wechsler said. “And I’m like, ‘Well if you’re not going to take my guy, he’s been out there all summer, he’s now in St. Louis, he’s working out for other teams, I’m not going to fly him back across the country for a workout when you guys aren’t going to take him.’ And that’s how it went down.”
Jayson Tatum’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, joined @TheFrankIsola and @Scalabrine today and responded to Magic Johnson’s comments https://t.co/sfPZFVXMga pic.twitter.com/WgWzHHyuJb
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) December 17, 2024
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Johnson made the ultimate blunder in hindsight, as Tatum would eclipse Ingram, Randle and Nance Jr., who are all no longer with the Lakers. And Wechsler did the Celtics a huge favor by not taking the Lakers’ invitation that might have changed Johnson’s mind.
The Celtics ended up trading down from No. 1 to No. 3 to select Tatum.
And it changed the course of the Lakers-Celtics history forever.
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Celtics Star Jayson Tatum’s Agent Responds to Magic Johnson Blame