Is being compared to a likely Hall of Famer supposed to be a compliment or an insult for Celtics sophomore Jayson Tatum?

It certainly sounded like the latter when Tatum was likened to former Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony in an ESPN report polling 18 unnamed league executives about the best second-year player in the NBA.

Tatum received three first-place votes and finished third in the voting, just ahead of Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, but behind Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.

While one anonymous exec referred to Tatum as “overall, the most well-rounded” player among the four, one called him a “complementary” player while others don’t view the Boston forward as a leader of a championship contender.

“Tatum might be Carmelo,” one Western Conference executive said. “He needs the ball in his hands.”

Anthony, 34, hasn’t linked on with another team after being traded from Houston to Chicago in January and then released. The 10-time All-Star hasn’t won a championship or reached the Finals in 16 NBA seasons, but he ranks 19th on the all-time scoring list with 25,551 points.

The 21-year-old Tatum shined for Boston in the 2018 playoffs — with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward sidelined by injuries — and he is averaging 16.0 and 6.2 rebounds per game in 73 appearances this season.

Simmons received nine first-place votes in the ESPN poll, with five for Mitchell and one for Fox.