1. Months after losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament and completing his freshman season at Duke University, 19-year-old Jayson Tatum moved from Cameron Indoor Stadium to a small gym in Playa del Rey, California, to pursue his dream job in the NBA. It was May 2017. Three teams, the Boston Celtics (who had the first pick), the Philadelphia 76ers (third pick), and the Phoenix Suns (fourth pick), sent teams to examine the 6-foot-8 phenom at St. Bernard High School, located north of Los Angeles International Airport. The only team that didn’t? The Los Angeles Lakers have a practice facility approximately five miles down the road. The other contingents went into town to attend the workouts led by Tatum’s longstanding longtime trainer Drew Hanlen. The Suns and Celtics later scheduled a second look, with Tatum flying to visit them.

The other groups flew into town to watch Tatum’s veteran trainer Drew Hanlen lead training. The Suns and Celtics later agreed to a second look, with Tatum flying in. The Lakers, who had the second pick, were glaringly absent. Tatum, whose boyhood bedroom in St. Louis served as a Kobe Bryant shrine, felt spurned. “That was kind of devastating,” Tatum said on Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast in November. According to ESPN, he intended to achieve one of two goals in the draft: either go first overall or be taken by the Lakers to follow in Bryant’s footsteps, barely a year after the all-time great retired from the league. Neither occurred.

Tatum instead ended up in green and white, as the third overall pick. The Celtics traded down in the draft and still got the guy they wanted — the player who has become a cornerstone in their return to the top of the league, and who just this summer helped them reclaim the lead in the category both storied clubs love most: championships. Tatum was still available on draft night when the Lakers selected him at number two. They did not accept him, a sliding-doors moment that could have been averted with a different approach from a front office that was installed in the middle of Tatum’s only collegiate season.

As the two clubs prepare to face off on Thursday in Los Angeles, one thing is certain: the 2017 draft has become a watershed moment in the NBA’s most intense rivalry.

JEFF WECHSLER can’t recall who provided him the video last month of Magic Johnson recounting his version of how the 2017 draft went while he was starting his two-year stint as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations. But Wechsler recalls his reaction to it. “I was like, ‘Well, it’s not factually correct,'” Wechsler, Tatum’s agent throughout his career, told ESPN. “Parts of it were correct, but it wasn’t the sequence or the cadence of what happened.” During a talk on SiriusXM NBA radio, Johnson stated that the Lakers were “top-heavy in forwards” and that they “couldn’t take [Tatum]’.” At the time, the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster included second-year forward Brandon Ingram, fourth-year player Julius Randle, and third-year forward Larry Nance Jr.

Johnson kept going: “His agent, also, didn’t want us to work him out because he didn’t want him to end up with the Lakers because we were already top-heavy with forwards.” Wechsler objects. He remembers a separate set of events. The draft date was June 22. Rob Pelinka — now the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager, but previously just the GM — texted Wechsler in early June to express the team’s interest in Tatum. Wechsler said he was willing to share medical information with the club, and he was convinced that Tatum’s left foot sprain, which had limited him to starting the season at Duke, had recovered. However, he was aware that the Lakers were also interested in another freshman, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball. It was open secret across the league.

“The whole time it was just so obvious they were taking Lonzo,” said a front office executive from a team with a lottery pick that year. “It didn’t seem like they had a hard time deciding that. After the lottery, we had every indication that Lonzo was headed to the Lakers. “And it never changed.” There were hints that confirmed Wechsler’s intuition. According to ESPN, Pelinka and Johnson used Johnson’s private jet to scout Ball during his games against De’Aaron Fox and the University of Kentucky. The Lakers’ brass had also seen Ball for two workouts — one at the team’s facility and another in his hometown in nearby Chino Hills — which was the maximum allowed. And all of their workouts with other top prospects were with guards, not forwards, sources said. They worked out Fox, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson (considered a swingman who could play the 2 or the 3). They didn’t work out Lauri Markkanen or Jonathan Isaac, another Wechsler client

It had become a story: the Lakers would fill a roster void while also fulfilling their long-held ideal for “the story,” by picking the hometown guy. Wechsler considered the writing on the wall permanent. He informed Pelinka that he would speak with them the next day. Wechsler was not concerned with appearances — or optics. “The draft is 12 days away,” he explained. “Kid’s been working out since he got done after March Madness. … In L.A. all that time.” Wechsler said Pelinka had contacted him several times. First, in April, to congratulate him on signing Tatum and Isaac; then on June 5, 9, and 10. Wechsler, who had previously worked for the same agency as Pelinka, informed his former colleague that  he was happy to share information about Tatum with him but wouldn’t schedule a workout because it was obvious to him that L.A. was selecting Ball. Pelinka insisted the Lakers were still looking at everyone. Wechsler was skeptical, but out of respect told him that if Johnson could convince him L.A. was aligned with Tatum as a real option, he could change his mind.

They all got on the phone on June 13, nine days before the draft. “I talked to Magic, and Magic basically said what he said [on the radio], that we’re deep at forward, we’re going to take a point guard,” Wechsler told ESPN. “At that point, I thought, well, there’s no need for him to come in. And I’m sure Rob was beating his head on the phone when all of this was stated. Because Rob was on the phone as well.” Sources connected to the Lakers’ front office at the time told ESPN that no one from that group ever stated that a decision was made so long ahead of the selection, let alone shared it with the outside public.

HANLEN AND PELINKA discussed Tatum during a Duke-NC State game while he was still in college. Hanlen was in Durham to assist Tatum work on his mechanics and break out of a shooting slump. Pelinka, yet to be hired by the Lakers and still operating as a player agency, went there to recruit Tatum as a client. Hanlen believes that if Pelinka had remained an agent rather than joining L.A.’s front office the following February, Tatum would have signed with him. “I mean, he had the ultimate trump card,” Hanlen told ESPN. “He had Kobe Bryan

While Tatum was working out at St. Bernard, Pelinka communicated with Hanlen, and Wechsler told him that he would welcome the Lakers as long as Johnson exhibited an interest. “Obviously, we heard the rumblings that they wanted Lonzo and to put butts in the seats and stuff like that, being a hometown guy,” Hanlen pointed out. “[Wechsler] never received such reassurance. He believed that Magic was extremely powerful. And Magic would not do it.” The teams that did attend received a show. Hanlen stated that then-76ers coach Brett Brown informed him, “This is the most NBA-ready skilled player that I’ve ever seen entering the draft.” Hanlen, who also trains Joel Embiid, considers another alternative history: “I begged the Sixers to  draft Jayson because I knew that pairing Jayson and Joel up … I really thought that they would be the biggest tandem in the NBA.”)

The Celtics, who were concerned about Tatum’s shooting after he made only 34.2% of his collegiate threes, were pleased with his progress. “He shot it really well,” a Celtics source stated. “We had him shoot some more, and he still shot it really well. It was a very good workout. He was going to be a great player. “It was very obvious.”

He shot so effectively during his Suns session that former Phoenix owner Robert Sarver intervened to ask for alternative drills, according to numerous sources familiar with the workout. “He starts in the left corner, and it’s like a pop shot. “It’s unbelievable,” one Suns insider remarked. “It’s like Jayson Tatum saying, ‘bong, bang, bing.’ One after another. And we’re sitting there going, ‘Holy s—, there aren’t many men in the NBA, even excellent current NBA players, who can do what this kid is doing at 19 years old.'” According to a Suns source, Tatum made 43 of 50 shots from the left corner. Hanlen remembers 47 out of 50. When Tatum went to the left wing for his second pair of 3s, the owner piped up

[Sarver] leaves, “All right, yeah, we’ve seen enough of that,” the source added. “‘We know he can shoot, what else can he do?'” “I remember Jayson looking at me and I literally said, ‘F— him. “We had our workout,” Hanlen stated. “And I told them, ‘You’re not going to be at No. 4 anyway. “Keep shooting.” The Celtics, who had the first pick, were locked in. By that point, it was widely assumed that L.A. wanted Ball at No. 2, while Philadelphia’s preferred option would be Fultz if he slipped to No. 3. Fultz, a 6-foot-4 point guard with a knack for scoring, was widely regarded as the consensus top choice.

On the Monday before the draft, Boston traded the first pick to Philadelphia in exchange for the third pick and a future first-round selection. According to insiders, as part of the transaction, 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo had to promise Celtics assistant general manager Austin Ainge that his team would chose Fultz. Boston did not participate in the same trade talks with the Lakers at No. 2, according to sources, since they were confident L.A. would take Ball and believed they could still acquire Tatum at No. 3. Nonetheless, in a last ditch effort, Pelinka approached Weschler again. Tatum had already returned to St. Louis before traveling to New York for the draft when, on June 14, Pelinka invited Tatum to go back to L.A to finally work out for the Lakers, Wechsler said. Pelinka proposed that Tatum could fly out to L.A. on Friday, June 16, spend two hours with him, Magic, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and then-coach Luke Walton on Saturday touring the new practice facility and then doing some light shooting drills before flying back.

Wechsler said Pelinka also discussed having other workouts scheduled for the end of the week for guys L.A. was examining with their other first-round pick, No. 28, or flying to St. Louis to see Tatum.

Wechsler did not bite. “Magic had already told me he wasn’t taking him,” Wechsler stated. “And Rob is here, saying, ‘I can’t reschedule because the 28th pick is coming in.'” That was the most off-putting aspect of the entire situation.” Eight days later, Fultz went first to Philadelphia, Ball second to Los Angeles, Tatum third to Boston, and Jackson fourth to Phoenix. Eight years later, Fultz is out of the league, Jackson is out, and Ball is on his third team after missing two full seasons due to knee injuries. Tatum is a five-time All-Star. He coached Boston to seven consecutive playoff appearances, five conference finals, two NBA Finals, and helped them win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Johnson believes Tatum would not have had the same impact on the Lakers as he has in Boston. “We would never have seen this Tatum if he had ended up with the Lakers,” Johnson remarked on SiriusXM. “Because he would have been sitting on that bench.” Take the alternative history one step further: Even if Johnson is true that the combination of Ingram, Randle, and Nance would have limited Tatum’s now-Hall-of-Fame career, what would have happened in 2018, when LeBron James joined the Lakers? The Lakers acquired Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019 by trading Ball, Ingram, and other assets. According to Hanlen, the Davis deal may not have occurred. “I firmly believe that if anyone saw Jayson enough