9781422271537

Chapter 1

Greatest Moments Missouri Prodigy Jayson Tatum took the National Basketball Association (NBA) by storm when the Boston Celtics took him third overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. However, his journey began well before 2017 as the son of a single mother in St. Louis, Missouri. He learned hard work from his mother, who raised him while attending law school, and it showed on the court. At the 2016 McDonald’s All-American high school game, Tatum had 18 points and went eight for eight at the free throw line. At the Jordan Classic, he scored 18 points on six of 14 shooting and was still perfect at the charity stripe on six attempts. That came on the heels of Tatum’s third straight year of winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for Missouri boys’ basketball. In his senior season, Tatum averaged 29 points per game and shot 61 percent from inside the arc. He also averaged nine rebounds a game and shot 86 percent from the charity stripe. 7