The Boston Celtics suffered a brutal exit from the 2025 playoffs, losing in six games to the New York Knicks in a series that many expected Boston to easily get through on route to defending the title.
Instead, it was a crushing blow to the team, who also suffered a major injury to the team's superstar player, Jayson Tatum. The injury was a cherry on top of a disappointing ending for a season that was supposed to feature an intense title defense.
While the playoffs did not end like the Celtics expected, one of the team's key players earned a regular season accolade that puts the player into the history books.
The NBA recently announced the All-NBA First Team, which has the regular season's best players, and it featured Tatum at one of the forward slots.
Tatum was a unanimous All-NBA First Team selection, marking his fifth overall All-NBA selection in his career.
His five selections are the second-most before the age of 28 in Celtics history, which ties what Bill Russell and Bob Cousy achieved, and just falls short of the great Larry Bird, who had more at that age.
This is also Tatum's fourth straight selection, though it will sadly be a streak that is broken as he is going to miss the entirety of the upcoming season with his injury.
He is now ranked fifth all-time in terms of First Team All-NBA selections in Boston's history, with the highest being Cousy at 10.
Through the 72 games he played in the regular season, Tatum averaged 26.8 points, with 8.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists, all while shooting a true shooting percentage of 53.7%.
He racked up 9.5 Win Shares and had a 4.8 VORP, which puts him much higher than a replacement-level player. He managed to be so effective with a usage percentage of 31.2%.
In an impressive season in terms of availability, production, and advanced metrics, Tatum rightfully earned his place on the All-NBA First Team, and it marks the irreplaceable nature of his production.
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