NBA star Jayson Tatum shares precious moment with elderly Toronto superfan
An 87-year-old Toronto woman got to watch her favourite team, the Boston Celtics, beat the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, but the game likely wasn't the best part of her night.
She also got to meet her favourite player.
Attia arrived at Scotiabank Arena with her daughter a few hours before tipoff to watch Jayson Tatum warm up courtside. To her surprise, she ended up getting the chance to meet him, too.
After finishing his shootaround, Tatum came over to greet the longtime superfan, making for a pretty precious moment.
"I heard you're a big fan," Tatum said to Attia in a video shared on X.
"It's nice to meet you. I hope you bring us some good luck today! Ok!"
And it turns out she might have brought her team exactly that.
Tatum and the Celtics came back from a 22-point deficit to hand the Raptors their second consecutive home loss, winning 98-93.
Offside caught up with Attia following her interaction with Tatum to find out how she became such a big fan of the Celtics star, and her answer was as wholesome as it gets.
Attia apparently became a Tatum fan after watching him on the first season of Netflix's NBA docuseries Starting 5. She was drawn to both his game and the personality he showed off the court.
"He's a great player, and I like his personality," she told Offside.
Six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum led Boston to their sixth straight win over the Toronto Raptors. (Kevin Sousa/Imagn Images)
Her favourite player had a relatively quiet start to Wednesday's game but finished with a game-high 24 points to lead Boston to its fourth consecutive win.
Unfortunately for Toronto, the loss also marked a record-setting collapse, as the Raptors blew their largest home lead in franchise history (22 points).
It's a tough road ahead for the 5-6 Raptors, who head to Philadelphia on Thursday to take on the 76ers before returning home Sunday to face the reigning NBA champion Knicks.
Eric Hartlin/Imagn Images | @marleydickinson/X
