Jayson Tatum Was Starstruck After Finally Meeting The 'Ultimate Celtic' Larry Bird At All-Star Game

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Jayson Tatum is in the middle of his seventh season as a Boston Celtic, so one would imagine that he's crossed paths with the legendary Larry Bird over the years, but apparently, their shaking of hands at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game was the first time they'd ever met one another. Even this quick acquaintance almost didn't happen.

Before the tip-off of the game on Sunday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Julius Erving, and Bird addressed the Eastern Conference team in the locker room. Tatum had every intention of finally getting to formally meet Bird for the first time, but the legend left the room before he got a chance to. Thanks to Taylor Kielpinski-Rogers, Boston's VP of Communications, Tatum was able to link up with Bird on the court.

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"I never met Larry Bird; I had never been in the same room as him," Tatum said. "As crazy as that sounds, it’s never worked out. Taylor saw him and grabbed me and I got a chance to go meet him, tell him how much of an honor it was to meet him. He told me he was looking forward to meeting me, and that was crazy to hear him say that."

You could see the joy in both Bird and Tatum finally being able to shake hands with one another, and Tatum was sure to grab a photographer to snap their photo together.

While Tatum is very much the king of the Celtics right now, he fully understands that Bird's status in Boston is on a different level.

"He’s a lot taller than I thought he was," Tatum said. "Obviously, what he means to the game, what he means to the city of Boston and the Celtics. He’s the ultimate Celtic, so it was an honor to meet him. It was just super quick, I just thought it was an honor to meet him and he told me he was looking forward to finally get to meet me. We didn’t get to talk in detail."

Tatum, a starter for the Eastern Conference, scored 20 of his team's record-setting 211 points on Sunday night. It's safe to say he enjoyed every second of the 22 minutes he played in front of Larry Legend.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.