Jayson Tatum 'sweet' rookie hazing method revealed by JD Davison

Boston Celtics rookie JD Davison spills the beans on team superstar Jayson Tatum's rookie initiation tactics.

Jayson Tatum may be one of the younger superstars in the league, but he's still a bona fide veteran. Tatum has been through numerous playoff runs with the Boston Celtics, with their most recent one bitterly ending in an NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.

As a veteran on his team as well as being the leader of this group, it also falls on Tatum's shoulders to make sure that their rookies are properly initiated. This was the case for Boston's second-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, JD Davison. As reported by Celtics team insider Jay King of The Athletic, the 19-year-old rook decided to spill the beans on Tatum:

“JD Davison said as part of his rookie duties, he had to buy Jayson Tatum doughnuts for the plane ride,” King wrote in his tweet.

JD Davison said as part of his rookie duties, he had to buy Jayson Tatum doughnuts for the plane ride.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) July 9, 2022

That's actually not that bad. That's a pretty easy task and not one that would require the usual humiliation and hilarity that typically go with these rookie initiations. I guess Tatum is taking it easy on their rook. Either that or he's just getting started. It's also possible that Davison isn't being completely honest here.

Whatever the case may be, these rookie initiations are age-old traditions that are aimed at building camaraderie between teammates. This is one way to integrate newcomers into the squad as teammates take pleasure in their suffering. If you put it that way, it actually doesn't sound very good. That's probably why Jayson Tatum is taking a rather tame approach here.