Tatum suffered a right shoulder stinger in the Eastern Conference finals. Jayson Tatum didn’t have the performance he hoped for in his first NBA Finals.
The Celtics’ young star scored 21.2 points per game on just 36.2 percent shooting, averaging seven assists but also 3.8 turnovers per game.
As Tatum continued to shoot poorly through the Finals, especially from within the 3-point arc (he shot 31.2 percent from 2-point range), several wondered if the right shoulder stinger he suffered in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was much worse than originally thought.
Another speculated reason for Tatum’s poor Finals showing was fatigue. Following the Celtics’ Game 5 loss, in which Tatum played all but the final minute of the second half,
Ime Udoka said he believed fatigue could’ve played a factor in Tatum air balling shots down the stretch.
Tatum’s severe workload goes longer than just Monday’s Game 5. Dating back to the NBA’s COVID restart in 2020,
Tatum’s played 7,103 minutes, the most by any player in the league (via Celtics radio play-by-play announcer Sean Grande). He also played for Team USA in the Olympics last summer.
This offseason will mark the first “normal” offseason of rest Tatum’s had in three years. However, he lamented more on the crushing loss he and the Celtics were dealt on Thursday than the time off he’s about to get.