Jayson Tatum named NBA All-Star for fifth straight season

BOSTON -- For the fourth straight year, Jayson Tatum will be a starter in the NBA All-Star Game. 

The Celtics star was announced as one of the 10 starters for this year's All-Star Game on Thursday, ahead of Boston's visit to the Miami Heat. It's the fifth straight year that Tatum has earned All-Star honors.

Tatum has certainly earned his spot among the NBA's best of the best, averaging 27 points per game (ranking 9th in the NBA) while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 36 percent from 3-point range. He's also averaging 8.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists heading into Thursday night's action. Boston owns the best record in the NBA at 34-10.

"You never want to take it for granted," Tatum told TNT shortly after the All-Star starters were announced. "There are 450 guys in the league and for the fans to consistently vote for me, it's truly an honor. I grew up wanting to be in All-Star weekend every year, and to live that out in real time is pretty cool. I'm grateful and excited."   

Tatum has a tough act to follow after being named MVP of last year's All-Star game, when he scored a record 55 points and led Team Giannis to a 184-175 victory in Utah. He shot 22-for-31 from the field and 10-for-18 from 3-point range in the game, while also corralling nine rebounds and dishing out six assists. 

Tatum also started in 2022 and 2021, but was an injury replacement those years. In 2022, he scored eight points to go with five assists, and four rebounds in his 20 minutes for Team Durant. He scored 21 points and dished out seven assists in just 17 minutes in 2021, also for Team Durant.

Tatum made his All-Star debut in 2019, and scored six points to go with three assists and three steals in 13 minutes for Team LeBron. He didn't make the team in his second NBA season in 2018, but Tatum was still part of the fun and won the Skills Challenge.

Now we'll see if Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis will be joining him as All-Star reserves, which will be announced in the coming weeks. Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia's Joel Embiid were the other two members of the Eastern Conference frontcourt to be named starters on Thursday, with Brown coming in fourth after Tatum. Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard were named the starting guards out of the East.

The 73rd NBA All-Star game will be held in Indianapolis on February 18.