Photo: Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Gets Tattoo of 2023 Kobe Bryant NBA ASG MVP Trophy

Julia StumbaughAugust 23, 2024

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Jayson Tatum now has a permanent reminder of the record-breaking 2023 All-Star Game performance that earned him the Kobe Bryant MVP award.

The Boston Celtics star shared an image of a new tattoo featuring the trophy on his Snapchat story, per Daniel Donabedian of Celtics Nation.

Daniel Donabedian @danield1214Jayson Tatum adds some new ink of his All-Star Game MVP trophy, named after the late Kobe Bryant 🏆 🖋️

(Via @jaytatum0 Snapchat) pic.twitter.com/jFu3ssNYj1

Tatum set an All-Star Game record in February 2023 by recording 55 points, besting the previous standard set by Anthony Davis in 2017.

The Celtics star went 22-of-31 from the floor, while adding 10 rebounds and six assists, to lift Giannis Antetokounmpo’s team to victory and hand LeBron James his first loss in six times captaining the game.

Tatum then became the fourth player to be named MVP of the game since the trophy was re-named in honor of Bryant following his death in 2020.

That made the MVP win particularly meaningful for Tatum, who has previously said he idolized Bryant as a young basketball player.

“It’s extremely special to me,” Tatum said after winning the award in February 2023, Dave McMenamin reported for ESPN. “My first All-Star Game was in Chicago in 2020 when they renamed the MVP after him, and I remember telling myself that someday I got to get one of those.”

Now Tatum will be able to remember that moment whenever he looks at his latest ink.