Been saying he reminds of me rookie Durant all season.
Tatum in 12 playoff games: 18.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals with 46%/31%/84% shooting
Durant rookie: 20.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1 steal with 43%/29%/87% shooting
In terms of their "style" ... they are not similar
Durant also is 6'11 with a 7'5 wingspan
True. Tatum is way better at fake-and-drive. And he is only a rookie
and up and unders. He also has a slight adv in ball handling
but Durant can shoot over pretty much anybody
Durant is a superior ball handler. Dude is a guard in a centers body. I love Tatum, but Durant isnt a good comparison because physically he's just such a freak. Paul George is probably the closest comparison physically, but Tatum is better as a rookie than George was even his second year.
Really tho i don't care about player comparisons, Tatum just needs to become the best version of Jayson Tatum.
Durant's amazing, but we're talking ceiling here after all.
I don't see any clear evidence that Durant was a better ball handler at 19 years old, or that he has a very large height/length advantage. Tatum measured at 6'8"+ when he was still 17 and there's a reasonable suspicion that he's pushing 6'10" right now and using that length effectively. His rookie numbers stack up pretty well vs Durant, albeit in much different environments.
Someone pointed out that Tatum's playoff numbers are pretty close to rookie Durant in the regular season. That's telling, since it largely evens out the MPG and usage rates.
The catch of course is that Durant made a big jump to superstar his 2nd year and has never looked back. We'll see with Tatum.