The summer season retains getting higher and higher for Jayson Tatum. After serving to lead the Celtics to their 18th championship with a 4-1 sequence win over the Dallas Mavericks, Tatum then signed a five-year, $314 million supermax contract extension and joined Staff USA for the Paris Olympics later this summer season.
Now, the 26-year-old has been named a canopy athlete of the favored online game NBA 2K25.
NBA 2K introduced on X the three cowl stars. Tatum will likely be on the duvet for the usual version, whereas Las Vegas Aces star, A’ja Wilson, is the duvet athlete for the WNBA version. The third version is the Corridor of Fame version and the duvet athlete for that’s Vince Carter. Each Tatum and Wilson will function on the All-Star version collectively.
On ‘The Previous Man and The Three’ which was hosted by Sue Hen, Tatum spoke about being on the duvet.
“I had a novel expertise, it was on my birthday… Deuce had a bag and he mentioned ‘Completely happy Birthday’ and I opened it and [it said] Congrats you’re on the duvet of 2K,” Tatum mentioned. “I acquired teary-eyed, I cried just a little bit. I really feel like I’m very blessed and lucky that once I was youthful I had so many goals and targets and issues I needed to test off. It’s like I’m experiencing these issues in actual time. I grew up at my mother’s home enjoying 2K with my greatest associates and my cousins and dreaming about being within the recreation someday, after which being on the duvet. For that second to return true, I cried just a little bit. I used to be simply so overwhelmed and completely satisfied that one thing I dreamed about got here true.”
Tatum averaged 26.9 factors, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists throughout the common season to assist Boston clinch the primary seed which noticed them have home-court benefit throughout the playoffs. For Wilson, final season she led the Aces to a 34-6 document and capped off the season with one other championship, profitable back-to-back titles. Wilson scored 22.8 factors per recreation final season on a star-studded workforce, however this yr she’s already making strides averaging 27 factors per recreation and is the main scorer within the WNBA.
Vince Carter introduced his retirement from the NBA in 2020 and this yr will likely be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame. The Brooklyn Nets introduced that Carter’s jersey will likely be retired this season, which means no Nets participant will ever put on the quantity 15 jersey.
Jayson Tatum joins an unique record of 2K cowl athletes and is the fourth Celtic to function as a canopy athlete. The latest Celtic to grace the duvet of NBA 2K was Kyrie Irving who was the duvet star for 2K18. Regardless of being on the duvet of 2K18, Irving was named the duvet star after his season with the Cleveland Cavs, nonetheless, that summer season he was traded to Boston and 2K up to date the duvet accordingly.
Earlier than Irving, Larry Hen was on the 2K12 in a particular version the place prospects might decide their cowl athletes between Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Hen.
With out being traded to the workforce or having a retired cowl athlete, the final Celtic participant to earn 2K honors with what they did for Boston was Kevin Garnett. Garnett was the cover-athlete for NBA 2K9 after his historic season profitable Banner 17 after his first season with Boston.
Tatum is now with Staff USA in Las Vegas prepping for the Paris Olympics the place Tatum can cap off his already wonderful summer season with a gold medal.
