Peter Casey -USA Today Sports
Jayson Tatum was left on the outside looking in of the 2024 NBA Finals MVP race as his teammate Jaylen Brown ended up winning it, but there’s one record Tatum set that is just now being recognized.
The record encompasses his basketball career from his teenage years up to the present day, and is something that not even Michael Jordan or LeBron James can claim.
According to the official FIBA account on Twitter, Tatum is the first player in basketball history to win a gold medal at the Olympics, FIBA U19 World Cup, FIBAU17 World Cup, FIBA U16 World Cup, along with an NBA championship.
Tatum will have an opportunity to add to his trophy case this summer with Team USA Basketball set to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Tatum is one of 12 players on the team along with his teammate Jrue Holiday. Team USA will be gunning for its fifth straight Olympic gold medal after winning their last Olympics at Tokyo in 2020.
The 26-year-old Duke Blue Devils alumnus Tatum averaged nearly 27 points per game this past season along with 8.1 rebounds while shooting over 47 percent from the field.
Steve Kerr, Mark Few, Tyronn Lue and Erik Spoelstra will comprise this year’s Team USA coaching staff as Tatum, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and others compete for gold medals with the team’s first game set for July 28 against reigning regular season NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Serbian men’s team.