Tatum could have been a part of the Phoenix Suns

The 2017 Draft was loaded of talent. Some of the top tier picks haven't yet become what we thought they would, like Markelle Fultz (1st) , Lonzo Ball (2nd) or Josh Jackson (4th), but on the other hand, a lot of the top 20 picks are already star-caliber players, like De'Aaron Fox, John Collins, Jonathan Isaac, Lauri Markkanen, Bam Adebayo and Donovan Mitchell. Then, above all those great players comes the best one out of this class, the third pick, Jayson Tatum, from the Boston Celtics.

As it turns out though, the Phoenix Suns, who selected Josh Jackson at the fourth spot, had a chance at trading up for the third overall pick in order to get Tatum. Former head coach Earl Watson himself detailed the plan, which apparently did not please the front office.

“I was pushing Tatum,” Watson said, via Jay King of The Athletic. “Like, we had to move up for Tatum, we had to get Tatum. And ownership chose Josh Jackson. … I knew the two players were dynamically different, but my vision was what's the best fit for Devin Booker. Booker and Tatum, I think a combination like that right now would have been completely different than anything in the NBA at that age.”

On that point he is totally right. While not being a bad prospect, Josh Jackson has certainly been a deception since the beginning of his career. This season, he was traded from the Phoenix Suns to join the Memphis Grizzlies and it got better for the 23-year-old small forward. In 18 games, he averaged 10.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in a little more than 19 minutes per night. Even tough he still has the potential, it is clear to everybody Tatum is and will always be the better player. He proved with the 2019-20 season that he can reach the franchise player level at some point on the two ways of the court. A duo of him and Devin Booker would probably put the Suns in a playoff spot right now and would make them the best upcoming duo of the whole league.

What makes this so interesting is the fact that Tatum did not want to play for the Boston Celtics, he wanted to be a part of the Suns organization. The All-Star player admitted it while talking to Justin Quinn of USA Today:

“I'm like, ‘I'm not trying to hear that. I want to go to Phoenix,'” Jayson Tatum said about the Celtics inviting him for a pre-draft workout. “My agent was like, ‘Just think about it.' And then, we hang up. I'm like, ‘I'm not going to this workout. Like, I'm cool.'”

Credit: Clutch Points

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