‘Aura’ is real all of a sudden and Jayson Tatum has it

The Jayson Tatum “aura” talk is officially back.

After Tatum sank his second game-winner of the season on Friday to propel the Boston Celtics to their second straight victory, people just couldn’t help themselves online.

The tweets of his aura flooded my timeline this morning, and I may actually be convinced that it’s a real stat that influences whether basketball games are won or lost. There’s a great chance that JT got in the lab this summer and figured out how to fix the fatal flaw in his game after critics seemingly made up aura to discredit him following Boston’s NBA Championship in June.

All of the talk about Tatum orbited around how corny he was when he celebrated the win, rather than how he helped his team get there.

Former NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony even went as far as to say that Tatum could never be the face of the league because he has no aura.

Well, Carmelo has no Larry, hence why I had to cite him as a former All-Star.

Anyway, now that Tatum has figured out his aura issues, he’s unlocked the ability to knock down game-winners. He’s now drilled three of his six attempts to tie or take the lead within the final five seconds of games this season.

Friday night’s dagger showcased how much of a difference aura can make.

The play developed in the same manner as it almost always does.

Tatum had the ball, bled the clock (as he should), and then wound up taking a mid-range fadeaway (or one from three) from the elbow.

The difference was, this time, it actually went in.

The shot didn’t even hit the rim on the way down. It could not have been a smoother make.

Herb Jones’ face after the shot dropped will tell you exactly how smooth it was.

I mean, if making a shot that’s cold enough to put that face on an opposing team’s player, that has to be aura, right?

How about this mean mug he a fan (it might’ve been his dad, idk) who was recording courtside at Smoothie King Arena.

The clip as a whole literally looked like something you’d seen in a Jordan commercial. It absolutely ruled.

So, as of today, February 1, 2025, I am declaring aura as an official basketball statistic. Also as of today, Jayson Tatum is leading the league in it.

Also, I was looking through photos to make this piece’s featured image and realized that Al Horford is also toward the top of the league in aura.

Dude rocks.