Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum: 'We're going to win the Finals this year'

Earlier this season, 22-year-old Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown made the bold claim that he's going to have five championship rings by the time he turns 28. 

Over the weekend, another one of Boston's young rising stars oozed similar confidence. 

"We're going to win the Finals this year," Jayson Tatum, 20, told ESPN following his Skills Challenge victory on Saturday night at All-Star Weekend. "February 16, mark (it) — Jayson Tatum said we're going to win the Finals this year."

To Tatum's credit, ESPN's Rachel Nichols asked him if he "wants to decree" anything he's going to win, so his claim wasn't unprompted.

Still, he and the Celtics have a lot of work to do to make his prediction come true.

The Celtics were a win away from a trip to the NBA Finals last year despite missing two All-Stars, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, due to injury. Many believed before the start of the season that with those two back in the fold, the Celtics were the favorites to take the Eastern Conference crown (our NBA desk was unanimous in picking Boston to make it to the NBA Finals).

Yet here the Celtics sit, tied for fourth place in the East with Philadelphia with less than two months of regular-season hoops remaining. They've struggled both on the court and off, and the chatter surrounding Irving, his impending free agency and a potential trade for New Orleans superstar Anthony Davis seems to be getting louder by the day.

Additionally, Milwaukee, Toronto and Philadelphia all added significant pieces during the trade deadline, and recent SuperBook odds give the Celtics the fourth-best chance to win the title (tied with the 76ers). 

They'll be put to the test immediately after the All-Star break, too, with five of their next seven games against Milwaukee, Toronto, Portland, Houston and Golden State.