‘I do feel bad’: Jayson Tatum weighs in on fans and sports betting

On Wednesday, Boston Celtics guard Jayson Tatum said he feels for fans when he doesn’t hit their parlays.

“I guess I do feel bad when I don’t hit people’s parlays. I don’t want them to lose money,” Tatum told reporters at the Celtics’ shootaround.

When money is on the line, fans don’t have an issue reminding the player they’ve betted on what they must accomplish for a big payday. Tatum said he hears it all from the crowd while in action.

“Fans yell s— all the time, ‘shoot one more 3, get one more rebound, get 25 before the half is over,'” Tatum said.

Tatum said there are other times when he’ll hear from fans whenever their parlays hit.

“I guess when you hit people’s parlays and do good [for their parlays], they’ll tell me, but they’ll also talk s— if I’m on the court and didn’t get them 29 at half or whatever I was supposed to do,” Tatum said.

Though players sometimes receive backlash from not hitting fans’ parlays, Tatum said he thinks it’s a funny way of allowing athletes to engage with fans.

“I mean, you see people on Twitter, you know, fans going back and forth with players on Twitter about how you lost their money and s— like that, but I guess it’s kind of funny,” Tatum said.

Tatum leads the Celtics with 27.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.