NBA star Jayson Tatum and NHL star Matthew Tkachuk grew up together as high school friends in St. Louis.
Now, the star duo have become champions at the highest levels of their respective sports – and incredibly rich in the process.
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Tatum recently led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship with a victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Just a week later, Tkachuk inspired the Florida Panthers to a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers to lift the Stanley Cup.
Now Tatum has taken his epic rise a step further by signing a five-year, $314 million supermax contract extension with the Celtics.
The deal is the largest in NBA history – and the first to surpass the $300 million cap.
Read more about Jayson Tatum
Tkachuk, meanwhile, signed an eight-year, $76 million contract with Florida in 2022, one of the highest in NHL history.
Tatum and Tkachuk were classmates for three years at the elite Chaminade College Preparatory School in suburban St. Louis.
A viral video clip of the pair recently resurfaced, during which the NBA star shared why he chose to attend prep school.
The younger Tatum said he chose Chaminade “because of the great people and fans,” while also giving credit to his high school classmates, including Tkachuk.
The clip came from a video posted to Tatum’s YouTube channel in 2013.
Tatum won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award his senior year.
He then went on to play basketball at Duke before being the third pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Meanwhile, Tkachuk spent four years at Chaminade before leaving school to join the U.S. National Development Tear to further his goal of being a hockey star.
He was the sixth overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
The pair’s colleagues admit they could not have predicted their incredible sporting success.
“To be honest, personally, no,” said Graham Niemeyer, who was in the broadcasting class with Tkachuk and Tatum. told Atlético.
“They were just normal guys,” added colleague Luke Radetic.
“We knew they were good, but we didn’t realize how cool it would be to look back.”
Their teachers remember how dedicated the pair were to sports.
“They practically gave their lives to this,” says Mike Derkits, one of Chaminade’s physical education teachers.
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When he graduated, Tatum was something of a minor celebrity at the school.
“It was the coolest thing to watch in high school,” Radetic added.
“Everyone knew he was going to be great.”
Now Tatum is an NBA champion and has the richest contract in league history.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
