The Toronto Raptors had a tough time keeping up with the defending NBA champions on Tuesday night. Despite a valiant effort, the Raptors wound up dropping a competitive 111-101 ball game to the Boston Celtics. A big part of Toronto failing to overcome Boston was undoubtedly the efforts of Jayson Tatum. Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic made sure to let everyone know just how great the Celtics star is.

Tatum finished the game with a double-double, posting 19 points and 11 assists in the win. The talented all-around star even chipped in six rebounds and a steal as well.

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0)

© Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

After the game was over, Rajakovic was asked about Tatum and his impact on this contest. The Raptors coach could not help but gush a little bit in his response to Josh Lewenberg.

“That guy is the best player on the best team in the NBA and I don’t think that he gets enough credit for what he does on both ends of the floor… They’re really lucky to have a guy like him. Amazing player. I’m a really, really big fan of his.”

-Darko Rajakovic

Tatum has proven to be a big of a divisive player among the NBA community when it comes to the evaluation of his greatness. It sounds pretty clear which side of the polarizing debate that Rajakovic stands on.

The way the second-year coach described Tatum would imply Rajakovic considering the Celtics star underrated relative to his ability. This feels fair after watching Tatum overcome a lackluster scoring performance with a tremendous game distributing the ball.

Tatum is one of those stars whose versatility is not talked about enough. The six-time All-Star seems to rub a lot of NBA fans the wrong way, leading to a general downplay towards his talents. Rajakovic clearly does not ascribe to that line of thinking.