Jayson Tatum’s Special Bond With Young Cancer Patient Is NBA Playoffs’ Sweetest Story

While basketball fans witnessed Jayson Tatum breaking the NBA's Game 7 scoring record in Boston’s series-clinching win over Philadelphia, the Celtics star made an even bigger impact off the court.

Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe shared the story of the connection between the four-time NBA All-Star and a 10 year-old boy named Xavier Goncalves. After a performance for the ages, in which he scored 51 points, Tatum delivered what the young boy who has cancer called “the best day of my life.”

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck presented the game ball to Tatum in the locker room after the game, but Boston’s star chose to give it to a boy who is serving as a tremendous source of inspiration. According to Himmelsbach, Xavier has “undergone three surgeries to remove a cancerous tumor from his eye, 24 rounds of chemotherapy, and months of radiation treatments.”

Over the last several months, Tatum has befriended the courageous boy and made sure to have him along for this season’s playoff run. Tatum’s move to include Xavier in the team’s post-game celebration as well as giving him the game ball after his career-best game in the NBA was an exceptional gesture.

Xavier’s cancer journey has hit home with Tatum due to the fact he also has a young son. “As parents, you do everything you can to provide and protect and make sure your child is safe, and things like this are uncontrollable,” Tatum told Himmelsbach.

This season’s NBA All-Star Game MVP shared a poignant reflection about a previous conversation with Xavier during one of their prior interactions off the court. 

“I asked him, like, ‘Do you get nervous?’” Tatum said. “And he just said, ’Nah, because I know it’s going to help me. I know I have to do this.’ And his mom and everybody around him encourage him. I thought that was cool, because I’m like, ‘[Expletive], I get nervous before games going out in front of these people, and for you to be 10 years old and show that courage is impactful.’”

According to Himmelsbach, Xavier recently underwent testing and is expected to receive the results soon.

“Even if it’s a bad MRI, I was able to go through the treatments before that,” he said. “I’d just have to pretty much do what I was doing before, just try to get through my treatments.”