Jayson Tatum a TOP-FIVE player in the NBA? + Klay Thompson’s ROLE on Mavs 🙌 | First Take

Jayson Tatum a TOP-FIVE player in the NBA? + Klay Thompson’s ROLE on Mavs 🙌 | First Take

Wendy what can you tell us more about the Celtics being for sale this is uh certainly the billionaire class and the investment bankers reacted big time to this news coming out yesterday and by the way it was not a coincidence that this was announced the same day that Jason Tatum and Derrick White were locked down assuring that the Celtics front uh front line their starters are now all locked down for years into the future so here’s the thing this is a fascinating moment because what Wick grbach the owner of the Celtics the controlling owner wants to do is wants to sell the team uh but not actually give up control of the team for another four years now how how do you do that and why would you do that well here’s why because the starting lineup starting next season not this season that we’re in now we’re now functionally in the 2024 25 season starting in the 2025 26 Season the Celtics starting lineup just that year will make $200 million next year the Celtics in salary and luxury taxs are faced with about a $500 million bill they are going to be losing absolute gobs of money so what Wick russbach wants to do is he wants to sell the team get money for the team then have the new owner pay all of the losses for the next four years while they’re potentially winning more championships while he gets to still run the show and accept the trophies now if you’re excited about buying something like that that uh call Wick grbach he’s listening to offers uh I but I will say this the Celtics are one of the Prime Assets in sports in the world probably a top 10 property in the world maybe a top five property in America so when you have an asset like that that has that kind of value um under those terms I’m not sure he’s going to maximize the sale but I would expect that this sale would smash all existing records for the purchase of a of a sports franchise in the world that’s how valuable the Celtics are right now I just don’t know if those terms are that is a wild set of that so look you could only get what you ask for with grbach did not become rich by you know looking for deals that didn’t favor him but I got to say that that statement was a Whopper what he’s asking for in the in the new own yeah that’s crazy I I Carlin told me during the commercial break he was thinking about buying them all right let’s Circle back to Tatum who will now be the best paid player in the league CH do you think that Tatum is a top player in this league o this is very very tricky because I really think we should be more so focusing on this Celtics Duo Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown both playing top 10 basketball basically where we saw in the NBA Finals having two of the top 10 players in the NBA no other team had a Duo like that to finish the season I did vote Jason Tatum First Team all NBA but here’s my list okay so if we’re going to go top five right Nika yic obviously Mr triple double Luca donic who led the league in scoring at 34 points per game Giannis an de kmo who averaged 30 on 60% shooting I know there was a lot of criticism in Milwaukee but still those numbers are insane from Giannis SGA has to be in the mix one of the most efficient guards and then that leaves a final spot that is up for grabs and I think it’s very difficult because Jason Tatum right now based off of how we finished I think he takes a lot of criticism but consistency needs to be respected in the postseason I believe he averaged 259 and six uh in the regular season 27 and8 and some people don’t really understand that he was asked to do more with less because of the talent that surrounded him adding Chris St porzingis who I have called from day one a huge X Factor so much to the point that I think other people other teams are looking for their own version of stretch bigs that’s why we’re talking about Lori marinin a lot in the NBA especially with team’s trying to improve you’ve got Drew holiday that helped out a lot Derek white who continues to take steps of improvement so Jason Tatum had to be Mr consistency which he was in the regular season and then try to fulfill the expectations of the world trying to be that guy in the postseason where we saw there were some lows but still he was consistent and I do think that Jaylen Brown’s surge as Finals MVP Eastern Conference Finals MVP confuses the the um importance of Jason Tatum to the Celtics Squad the only caveat I had the only thing that can make Tatum out of top five get bumped out to me is the Joel embiid Factor Joel embiid averaged 34 but only played 39 regular season games so if you have to take one person off if Joel embiid was healthy then maybe you’d say okay I’m not sure if Jason Tatum is in the mix based off of those other guys that I mentioned so overall yes where we finish the season top five and I do think that the confidence he built from winning a championship will solidify that for the Celtics in the years to come who do you think prove their title hops more the Mavs or the Sixers look it’s summertime everybody has their Summer Bodies ready and on paper the Sixers they’re looking sexy they’re looking good they’re stepping outside enjoying the warmth and they’re feeling themselves y’all why because Daryl Mory is a master chef and the ingredients are all coming together now if you are building a trio it doesn’t get better than what you see that the Sixers have built on the floor you have a speedy point guard in Tyrese Maxi that was extended and he also has the versatility based off of filling the shoes of no James Harden to be able to play on Ball and off ball also joelan beid who was on Pace for MVP but obviously the concern is Health now you add Andre Drummond one of the best rebounders in the league that can sort of hold things down if he is out for a game or so and last but not least the final ingredient Paul George I mean if you combine Paul George Joel embiid and Tyrese Maxi I believe it’s 83 points 35 26 and 23 they touch all aspects of the floor in half court on offense point guard downhill pick and roll Joan B throw it in Paul George kicking out on the office you know opposite side one of the best isolation 68 big guy scores this is Hooper heaven but also one thing I love about Philly what we’ve seen over the last few years is also their length defensively they have Joel embiid George can extend you’ve got Maxi that’s able to be out there in pressure defensively so overall if you look on both sides of the ball the Sixers look like for so many years we’ve seen Joel embiid throughout his career get to the postseason fall short get to the postseason we see some tears get to the postseason not banged up uh banged up and not really being his best self overall if you look at what they have done there are expectations if they are healthy to not only dominate but potentially come out of the East if you put that in contrast the Mavs the Mavs still have big question marks on their identity defensively here in Philly those questions have been answered because they’re the city of the answer right well first of all CH I want to just say I appreciate you recognizing the hard work I have put into my summer body thank you for that it you’re looking good go un appreciated thank you um it’s the Mavericks to me and it’s for a couple of reasons I can’t argue I think right now with embiid with maxi and with Paul Paul George on the court that’s a dynamic big three perhaps the best in the league at the moment but they have to be on the court Paul George was on the court this year in a contract year was it coincidental I don’t know I I don’t know but I can only look at the four years prior and understand that he missed roughly 40% of his games on average over those four years prior to this year we know what the Joel embid injury issues have been we don’t have to go through that when I look at the Mavericks Klay Thompson has been on the court here the last couple of years since his injury we’re not going to uh we’re not going to for a minute try to plead his case for being the same player that he was but in terms of fit as well as Paul George as a great two-way player fits the Sixers I think Klay Thompson here in his role with the Mavericks addresses what their biggest issue was when it came to the finals I mean they are right there in making the finals because they attempted so many threes during the year but they didn’t make nearly as many as they needed to they finished 13th in the league in in three-point field goal percentage but second in attempts clay needs to be that guy who can knock down those shots and in an analytically driven League that’s what this is going to be about I think employed in the right way which is 30 minutes and on the floor at the end when it matters for a big shot I think the Mavericks have put themselves closer to a championship here than the Sixers have well at the end of the day the Mavericks have added a spectacularly good fitting role player but the Sixers are the ones who hit the Grand Slam here they’ve added an all-nba player who is a two-way Wing who is you know if you’re if no no matter what the Sixers were doing they are looking up at the Celtics and they got to figure out how are we going to deal with this power on the wings with Tatum and brown and even Derek white how are we going to deal with that you you know you had to get a guy who was not going to interfere with with with embiid not going to interfere with maxi and could play on the wing I mean this was really serendipitous I really can’t say that enough Paul George really only had one option at the end of the day if he wanted Max money to sign there were possibilities of him getting traded places but obviously those didn’t work out the the place that made sense we could play for a championship was one spot Philadelphia who could give him that 212 212 million and if you’re Philly you how many max players were on the market that were available for you to sign one this was this was a one and one situation and it just so happened that the fit was perfect you don’t get to go to the Superstar store and say I have these seven choices I’m going to pick this one they had a choice of one and it just so happened this fit goes right alongside without causing any issue and exactly what they need so that’s why I have to say that in terms of the acquisition it’s just so terrific for Philadelphia now who might be closer Carlin you might be right Dallas might be closer but they started closer and what in Phil may need another transaction cycle to build up this roster because part of what it means when you when you have a bunch of salary cap spaces you emptied out your roster and we’ve seen historically teams that do this typically aren’t at their best until at least the second season so we may get to a year from now and say boy the Klay Thompson acquisition really elevated the Mavericks but overall all on balance I think the Sixers were the you know using the verb improved I think they they win that one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Brian Windhorst, Chiney Ogwumike and Chris Carlin join Christine Williamson to react to the Boston Celtics ownership selling a majority of the stake, and debate if Jayson Tatum is a top-five NBA player right now.

0:00 Celtics ownership selling majority of stake
2:30 Jayson Tatum a top-five player in the NBA?
5:00 Better title odds: Mavs or 76ers?
8:00 Klay Thompson’s new role with the Mavericks

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