After witnessing Jayson Tatum dominate the New York Knicks on Monday, Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce is convinced about one thing: The Problem is the top US-born player in the NBA today.

Pierce took his bold claim to X (formerly Twitter), writing: “Tatum is the best American Basketball Player in the World.”

And for those who disagree, the Celtics icon and one-time champion wants them to simply “shut up.”

On Monday, Tatum exploded for 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting–including going 5-of-12 from deep. The Celtics superstar also tallied six rebounds, seven assists and one steal to propel Boston to the 114-98 win over Jalen Brunson and New York.

With that said, it's not a surprise why Paul Pierce is really hyped about Jayson Tatum and even went as far as to saying that he's the best American basketball player in the game today. There's definitely merit to his statement, with Tatum among the MVP candidates this 2023-24–perhaps only behind non US-born players in Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic.

Sure enough, however, it might be a bit premature to give that title to Tatum just yet. Not with the likes of Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton and Donovan Mitchell (among others) playing out of their minds as well.

Curry, for one, is doing what no other 35-year-old or older NBA player has done before, becoming the first ever to average 30 points through the first 10 games of a season. The Golden State Warriors star, like Tatum, is having an MVP-caliber season. The same goes for James, who continues to defy the odds with the Los Angeles Lakers even at his age-39 season.

If Tatum can maintain his current rate of production, then there will be no doubt he'll be the best American player in the NBA. Sure enough, however, Tatum might want to target being the best in the league instead as he looks to power the Celtics to the Larry O'Brien trophy after more than a decade of waiting. To do that, he needs to outperform the likes of Jokic and Embiid, who are the frontrunners for the MVP award once again.