William Earl Tatum (born July 26, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player from Mount Vernon, New York. He was a guard who played high school basketball at Mount Vernon, where he was selected large-school player of the year by the New York State Sportswriters Association in 1972, and collegiately at Marquette University.
Tatum was selected with the 4th pick of the second round in the 1976 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. During the 1977 NBA playoffs, Tatum's only postseason appearance, he averaged 13.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 11 games,Earl Tatum Per Game Playoffs as the Lakers advanced past the Golden State Warriors before losing to the Portland Trail Blazers.1976-77 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats He played for five teams in 4 years, his final season spent with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1979–80.
Career statistics
NBA Source
Regular season
| style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 68 || || 18.4 || .466 || || .720 || 3.5 || 1.7 || 1.3 || .3 || 9.4 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 25 || || 26.5 || .487 || || .763 || 3.6 || 2.8 || 1.5 || .4 || 14.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 57 || 40 || 32.6 || .462 || || .788 || 3.6 || 4.0 || 1.8 || .5 || 14.4 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| | style="text-align:left;"| Boston | 3 || || 12.7 || .400 || || .800 || 1.3 || .3 || .0 || .3 || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 76 || || 15.7 || .448 || || .727 || 1.6 || .9 || 1.0 || .4 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Cleveland | 33 || || 6.8 || .383 || .333 || .579 || .8 || .6 || .5 || .2 || 2.6 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 262 || 40 || 20.0 || .459 || .333 || .746 || 2.6 || 1.9 || 1.2 || .4 || 9.6
Playoffs {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1977 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 11 || 32.4 || .500 || .667 || 4.9 || 2.5 || 1.4 || .8 || 13.6
See also List of National Basketball Association players with most steals in a game
References
External links NBA stats @ basketballreference.com Recent photo of Earl Tatum @ legendsofbasketball.com