Celtics' Jayson Tatum Reacts to Critics: Always Got to Refer to Me as an NBA Champion

Jayson Tatum may not have won NBA Finals MVP, but he believes hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy is enough for him to silence his critics.

"A hundred percent," Tatum said, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. "Just being at the topic of discussion of so many debates or whatever it is ... 'Can he lead a team? Is he a top-five player?'

"There's still a lot of things I guess they can debate. But now I've done something that they can't debate: I've won a championship. Having that under my belt, like obviously it's still conversations to be had or whatever people want to say, but they always got to refer to me as an NBA champion."

Tatum averaged 22.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists in the Celtics' five-game win over the Dallas Mavericks but struggled with his shot, shooting just 38.8 percent from the floor and failing to hit 50 percent of his shots in any game.

Teammate Jaylen Brown earned Finals MVP honors thanks in large part to his efficiency over the first three games of the series. Brown's averages (20.8 PPG, 5.4 APG, 5.0 RPG) were worse than Tatum's, but he shot over 50 percent in Games 1-3 as the Celtics opened up a 3-0 lead over the Mavs.

The Celtics retained 13 of their 15 players from last season's team, something Tatum hopes will lead to Boston competing to repeat as NBA champions.

"We had a hell of a team," Tatum said. "Obviously the guys that did play, but the guys in our 'stay ready' group are extremely talented whenever we called upon them. I think the camaraderie that we had was such a close-knit team that we all got along really, really well.

"I didn't really want any changes. I thought we had a really, really good team on all fronts."

Tatum's critics will also have to refer to him as the highest-paid player in NBA history. The All-Star forward inked a five-year, $314 million extension this offseason, becoming the first NBA player to pass the $300 million threshold.