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News, Blog and GuidesIt’s not every day that you get to watch your friend march toward winning a major sports championship while doing the exact same thing yourself.
Paul RudderEnglish_ASUpdate: Jun 15th, 2024 07:18 EDT0
STACY REVEREAFP
With both men now on the cusp of winning a title in their respective sports, it’s quite something to consider that they’ve been friends since childhood. Of course the real question is, are they rooting for each other in their respective finals?
The story of Jayson Tatum & Matthew Tkachuk
It’s not uncommon for kids to dream of a career in professional sports Yet, what we don’t see so often is two children achieving their dreams and remaining friends throughout the process. Somehow that’s exactly the case with the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and the Florida Panthers’ forward Matthew Tkachuk. If you didn’t know, both men attended Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis where they attended classes together and now at the age of 26 years old, they’re on the verge of leading their teams to a title.
Imagine you and your middle school buddy leading your teams to championships at the same time. Matthew Tkachuk and Jayson Tatum are doing something special right now. pic.twitter.com/Yy7zvzh0yD
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) June 14, 2024
In a video shared by ESPN on YouTube, both stars can be seen as adolescents in what appears to be a promotional video that was recorded for their school more than a decade ago. “Another reason I came to Chaminade is for great people and great fans,” Tatum can be seen saying to the camera before introducing his friend Tkachuk, albeit a much smaller version of the Panthers’ star. Of course, as we now know it would the video was filmed just a few months before Tkachuk left Chaminade to follow the footsteps of his father, NHL All-Star Keith Tkachuk, entering the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan.
Tatum on the other hand would go on to graduate from Chaminade after which he played for Duke for one year before being selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. With that, we fast forward to the present where both men stand one win away from a championship in their respective sports. Tatum and the Celtics currently lead the Dallas Mavericks 3-1 in the NBA Finals, while Tkachuk and the Panthers are 3-0 up over the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup with Game 4 set to be played on Saturday night.
Jayson Tatum & Matthew Tkachuk are rooting for each other
To that end, it wasn’t surprising when Tatum sent his best wishes to his former classmate during media availability earlier this week. “I’m a big Matthew fan,” Tatum said. “I actually watched him win [Monday]. …I’m extremely happy for him and his family and hopefully they win it all.” As you can probably guess Tkachuk expressed similar shared a similar sentiment last week.
