Following in the Converse-clad footsteps of 1956 SI cover subject Bob Cousy, Boston’s Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to their 18th NBA title, making them the most successful team of the magazine’s seven decades.

There is a note of skepticism in Jayson Tatum’s voice. “That’s a real picture?” he asks, peering down at the Jan. 9, 1956, cover of Sports Illustrated. Indeed, photography from that era can resemble a well-painted watercolor or something that today might be spit out by an Instagram filter, but the image of Boston Celtics icon Bob Cousy turning the corner on Fort Wayne Pistons big man Larry Foust is, in fact, legit.

“Nice sneakers,” Tatum says, noting Cousy’s black Chuck Taylors, which sold for around eight bucks. Tatum recently revealed he owns a pair of Nikes that sell for $8,000.

Drafted by Boston in 2017, Tatum knew little of Cousy. Or of the Celtics, really. He grew up in St. Louis, a city the NBA abandoned long ago. Kobe Bryant was his basketball role model. He recognized the names of some of the Boston greats—Cousy, Bill Russell, Larry Bird—but not much else. It wasn’t until ESPN released its documentary on the Celtics-Lakers rivalry in ’17 that he realized Cedric Maxwell was more than a radio analyst. He met Bird for the first time last February, during NBA All-Star weekend. “I was in awe,” Tatum says. “That’s the guy that you aspire to be when you wear this uniform.”

Tatum is studying the old issue during a break in his own photo shoot, the latest NBA athlete on the cover of SI admiring the first player from the league to be featured there. Cousy, sheepishly, admits he doesn’t remember the cover. “Wasn’t SI a hunting and fishing magazine for a while?” Cousy asks. Well, yes, early editions of SI did feature a fisherman’s digest and articles about African safaris. But there was plenty of mainstream sports coverage, too, including barrels of ink spilled on the Celtics, who, after knocking off the Dallas Mavericks in five games to win their 18th championship, moved past the Los Angeles Lakers on the NBA’s all-time title list while slipping ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for the most championships in SI’s 70-year history. “I do remember SI being a big deal,” Cousy says. “And I did like being on covers.”