Seven years ago, Jayson Tatum was holding Bradley Beal's jersey for its retirement at Chaminade (Watch video above). Now, the two are all anyone can talk about in the NBA.
No, really, It legitimately seems like I can't turn on a sports show or open social media in the last week without seeing someone talking about one of them. The St. Louis kids are the talk of basketball.
On Feb. 23, Beal dropped 53 points against the Bulls. Later that night, Tatum put up 41 against the Lakers in LA. That's 94 points for Chaminade High School on one night in the NBA. I'm pretty positive no other school can say that.
Let's talk Tatum first.
In four games since making his first NBA All-Star team, Tatum is averaging 34.5 points per game for Boston and is also averaging nearly eight rebounds a game as well.
That 41-point night in LA also got the attention of the game's biggest star, LeBron James, who called the still 21-year-old an "absolute problem."
RELATED: ‘Moments you live for! Just a kid from St. Louis’ | Jayson Tatum gets shoutout from LeBron James
Tatum has the Celtics just a game out of second place in the East behind Toronto, and Boston has only lost two games the entire month of February.
He even had a chance to visit his hometown this month during the All-Star break, checking out some of the up-and-coming local talent.
Now to Beal, who is almost singlehandedly having to beat teams on the bottom-dwelling Washington Wizards.
Beal's 53 points last Sunday was impressive, but then he topped it the very next day when he dropped 55 against Milwaukee. That's 108 points in 48 hours. He's the first player in the NBA to score 50-plus points in back-to-back games since Kobe Bryant in 2007. Yes, the Wizards lost both of those games and Beal was "randomly" drug tested after his back-to-back explosions.
Beal is currently the second-leading scorer in the entire league, averaging 30.1 points per game (James Harden is first). Since his All-Star snub, he's averaging a ridiculous 41 points per game.
The coolest thing about these two deciding to take over at the same time is the mutual love they've shown for each other on social media.
Above all, Tatum and Beal love their hometown more than anything, and never miss an opportunity to shout it out or give back when needed. These two showing just how good they can be, makes me long for a St. Louis NBA team, simply because you know both of them would do whatever they needed to to get on that roster.
St. Louis has had a lot of great NBA talent over the years. It's no secret how great of a star-producing town this is. From Ed Macauley and Jo Jo White to Steve Stiponovich and David Lee, St. Louis can churn out talent with the best of them.
But Tatum and Beal, at least this month, have been on a completely different level. We're seeing something special, and all of St. Louis can take pride in knowing they're our own.
More NBA Stories
RELATED: "The reason I started to play this game" | St. Louis NBA players grieve death of Kobe Bryant
