SI

Jayson Tatum Told Priceless Story of LeBron James Turning Down His Autograph Request

The Celtics star still hasn't forgotten to this day.

Kristen Wong

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
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If Jayson Tatum had a villain origin story, it might have started decades ago during a formative moment with NBA legend LeBron James in which the then-Cleveland Cavaliers star ruthlessly rejected his request for an autograph.

Or so Tatum says.

Tatum silenced his doubters this past season as he helped the Boston Celtics end a 16-year title drought and clinch his first and the franchise’s historic 18th NBA championship. But one moment still arguably haunts the 11-year-old inside Tatum who was rebuffed by James all those years ago.

“[LeBron] ain’t tell me no but, he kinda told me no,” Tatum said. “In Memphis a long time ago, Larry Hughes was my dad’s best friend, they played on the Cavs together. My mom took me to a game in Memphis, I wanted to meet LeBron, and I wanted to get a picture with him and an autograph. There were a lot of people back there, and he was like, ‘I’m out, I gotta go.’ And I got in the car and started crying.”

“But we cool now,” Tatum added with a wry smile, perhaps reminiscing on how he dunked on James during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018.

Tatum, James, and the rest of the United States men’s Olympic basketball team will open the Paris games against Serbia on July 28.

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Kristen Wong

KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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