Jayson Tatum is averaging a career high 37 minutes per game this season so you are seeing a ton of him on the court.
You may have noticed by this point in the season that when Tatum is not in the game, he is seldom if ever seen on the Celtics bench next to his teammates.
Why? Much like Freddy Mercury, Tatum wants to ride his bicycle.
All season long, when Tatum is not in the game he heads to the tunnel and hops on an exercise bike rather than join his teammates on the bench. Sometimes he pedals lightly, other times he just kind of sits there.
He’s not injured, per se. He just, presumably wants to stay loose. No one on the team has made an issue of this or even talked about, until after Monday’s night’s game against the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden.
Teammate Josh Richardson responded to a post on his own instagram account which asked Richardson to implore Tatum to sit on the bench and “VIBE” with his teammates.
Richardson’s response…”he’s too good for us on the regular bench.”
WHAT?!?!
Richardson is joking….we think. Though there are no LOLs or laughing face emojis attached to the reply. Nevertheless he and Tatum have always appeared to have a healthy relationship so doubt there’s any real animosity out there. But, it’s a (playful?) jab nonetheless.
So is it an issue? Probably not. In his final years Larry Bird was forced to lie on his stomach on the floor to keep his back from tightening up.
But unless Tatum NEEDS to be on the bike (half the time he’s not even pedaling) it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to hang with his teammates on the bench. The opportunity to talk about things happening on the floor, strategize, root for his teammates and maybe even take part in some much needed “Gino time” during the occasional blowout win.
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