Tatum and White join exclusive club with NBA title and Olympic gold in same year

Tatum, White join exclusive club with NBA title and Olympic gold in same year originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

It was a very good year for Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

Not only did the trio win an NBA championship alongside their Celtics teammates in June, they also helped the U.S. basketball team win a gold medal on Saturday by beating France 98-87 at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Tatum and Holiday combined for eight points against France. White did not play in the gold medal game, but he had a strong tournament overall.

Winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy and an Olympic gold medal over the course of a career would be impressive. Achieving this feat in the same year is much rarer.

In fact, before Saturday, only six players had ever done so.

Holiday was actually one of the first six. He helped Team USA win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (played in 2021 due to COVID-19), a few months after his Milwaukee Bucks won the 2021 NBA Finals.

Tatum and White are the seventh and eighth players to join this exclusive club.

Here’s the full list:

Holiday, like Scottie Pippen, is the only player ever to win two NBA titles and Olympic gold in the same year.

Tatum, White and Holiday also join Larry Bird (1992) as the only players to win an Olympic gold medal while playing for the Celtics. NBA players first began competing in the Olympics in 1992.