Josh Hart doesn’t want to be part of the Jayson Tatum narrative anymore.
On Thursday, ESPN’s “Get Up” discussed comments Hart made on “The Pivot Podcast,” in which he said Derrick White of the Celtics might be “more impactful” than White’s superstar teammate Jayson Tatum because White “does everything on the court.”
Host Mike Greenberg said the statement “feels as though there’s a desire to diminish Jayson Tatum,” to which Hart took offense.
“Yall realize saying something is more impactful isn’t belittling the other guy right?” the Knicks star wrote on X. “Leave me out this ‘desire to belittle JT’ narrative.”
While Hart did further praise White on the podcast appearance, he did not offer much in the way of compliments toward Tatum.
“Just impact-wise, I might put Derrick White as more impactful than Jayson Tatum,” Hart said on the Pivot. “Look at every made play from the last six minutes of the fourth [quarter] to overtime. Every big play, he made. He’s probably one of the most impactful players because he does just everything on the court and does everything at a very high level.”
The seeming frustration with the coverage of Tatum, the four-time All-NBA forward, is not confined to Greenberg, or even ESPN.
Ringer founder and Celtics fan Bill Simmons noted in his May 24 podcast episode that the frustration goes all the way up the ladder in Boston.
“I know from a Celtics organization, all the way up standpoint, they’re really frustrated with the Tatum coverage,” he said on the “Bill Simmons Podcast.”
“From the sense that he’s 26 years old, he’s scored more playoff points than any player in their first years ever, he’s made three first-team All-NBA [teams]. He made All-NBA this year.”
NESN, which carries Red Sox and Bruins games locally, has been particularly critical of Tatum through the years and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said that Jaylen Brown is the best playoff player on the Celtics as recently as last year’s playoffs.
Tatum struggled in his last two games against the Knicks, where Hart was primarily assigned, putting up just 19 points (42 minutes) and 18 points (32 minutes) on 42.8 percent shooting.