Jayson Tatum went on ‘The Pivot Podcast’ with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, talking openly about his mindset during his injury, his time with the Celtics, family life, the Olympics, his legacy in Boston, and his relationship with Kobe Bryant.
The first question that was asked by Ryan Clark to open the interview was Tatum’s process recovering from his torn Achilles injury that he suffered in the final minutes of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals against the New York Knicks.
Tatum said, “I feel like I could write a book on everything I experienced and went through. It’s different phases, you know: disbelief, shock, disappointment, doubt, initially because you never expect that it is going to happen to you. Then you go through the emotions of, like, life. I couldn’t walk up steps, I had to live with my mom, I needed help with everything… You know one day, I felt like Superman and then the next day, I felt like the smallest man on Earth.”
Channing Crowder then asked him if he was able to “turn the switch off” mentally when it came to being around basketball as a whole. Tatum gave a very honest reply, saying, “I was done with basketball when I got hurt. I felt betrayed by the game. Like I was never one of those guys that never cheated the game, never took it for granted…it just didn’t feel fair that happened to me. Like I really felt betrayed and I needed some time away from the game.”
Tatum then went on to talk about his relationship with Kevin Durant, who also suffered a torn Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals saying, “KD is a big reason why like the narrative [around a torn Achilles] has changed. He was older than me when he did it and he still returned to being exactly who he is and he is somebody that I’m super close with and have talked to. But just the way he went about it and the way he came back, really changed the narrative around that injury and gave people like myself hope that you can come back and be yourself or be better.”
Clark asked Tatum was about potentially coming back to the Celtics this season and how he would be able to fit back in with the group. Tatum said, “That’s something I contemplate every day. More so about the team, if or when I do come back this season, they would have played 50 some odd games without me so they have an identity this year or things they’ve felt that has clicked for them and it’s been successful…so there’s a thought in my head that is like, how does that work? How does that look with me integrating myself off an injury…and it is a thought like ‘damn, do I come back or should I wait?’ In the last two weeks or so, I contemplate every single day.”
Fred Taylor brought the conversation back to Tatum’s mother, asking him what it was like growing up. Tatum said, “I was very aware of my surroundings like when we didn’t have no heat, when the lights was cut off, when I got to wash my hands and the water not coming out the faucet…when I was younger, I always told myself ‘it’s my dream to be in the NBA but like I can’t wait to take care of my mom.‘”
Tatum then talked about having Deuce and how big his mom was there saying, “Then you fast forward, I had even deeper appreciation when I had my first son. I was 19, but I had all the resources and a great job, but it still takes a village to raise a child and my mom was still helping me out with my son, Deuce. I just remember, I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know how the f*** you did it. Like how did you make it happen?‘ I am eternally grateful for the unconditional love and tough love that she gave me because I can’t imagine doing it the way she had to do it.”
Clark then asked Tatum about his relationship with his father and how it shaped his journey of also being a dad. He said, “Me and my dad, we close and he was always there, like I’ve known him my whole life. There’s moments where we didn’t have the best relationship and I got to a point where it’s like I want our relationship to be better…I never thought about getting married. I was always like, ‘I want to have a son because I want to have a different relationship with my son than I had with my dad.’ But on the flip side, I wouldn’t change nothing about how I was brought up because it made me who I am.”
Taylor asked Tatum if there was a possibility of potentially playing in the NBA with Deuce like LeBron and Bronny James. Tatum laughed and replied, “That would be incredible. This is my ninth year in the league. Hopefully, it don’t take him that long, maybe he can be one and done and it’ll bring that timeline a little down. But I think that would be incredible.”
Coaching with the Celtics
Clark asked him about Joe Mazzulla, talking about how when he was asked about Tatum’s injury, he said, “He failed out of medical school.” He wanted to know what type of person Mazzulla is and Tatum answered with a glowing review of his head coach, saying, “The type of person you see in the interviews and the clips, that’s exactly who he is. Joe is one of the best people I have ever been around. One of the best, genuine, fierce, like he’s an ultimate competitor. He wants to win at all costs…But more than that, he cares about every single person in that locker room, on staff, in that organization… and I think it means a little bit more when [a coach] cares about you as a person and that’s exactly what Joe is.”
Crowder then asked him about playing under Brad Stevens, Ime Udoka, and Joe Mazzulla. Tatum said, “I have been very fortunate that I’ve played for some of the best coaches I believe of this generation. It was perfect because each stint that I had to coach was perfect for my development. Brad Stevens isn’t like a rah rah type of guy but when I first got to the league as a 19-year-old, he showed me the NBA game…When we got Ime, it was like, ‘How do we make this jump?’ We had been to the conference finals three times, but we haven’t gotten over that hump. Ime was the best at like getting the best out of guys and pushing your buttons. Joe Mazzulla is like the perfect combination of both.”
Relationship with Jaylen Brown
Clark moved the conversation back to his time in Boston and the relationship he has with Jaylen Brown. He asked about how him and Brown were able to overcome all the media scrutiny of wondering if they could win a championship together. Tatum responded, “As you get older, you just start maturing and realizing that the grass ain’t always greener on the other side. Understand that we are two guys that love this game, work their butt off, and want to win at all costs…we both got paid, we both had individual success and All-Stars. Now, let’s figure out how do we put it all together.”
Tatum also explained more about the early success they had in their career and the narrative around that saying, “The unfair part of it was we went to the conference finals my rookie year. So, as spectators and as fans, subconsciously, you like, ‘now, they got there they need to go.’ [Brown] was 21 and I had just turned 20 and we went to a Game 7. Then my third year we went to the conference finals, so now people are looking at us like, ‘Oh, y’all can’t get it done.‘”
“Sometimes, we look at star players or younger guys that may be on bad teams for a while, they get more grace because they haven’t been there, so you haven’t expected anything from them. So then, by the time you do expect it, they 27, whereas people was expecting that from us at 20, 21, 22 years old…We were held to a much higher standard than everyone else which is part of being in Boston, playing for the Celtics, you’re expected to win championships, but we’re just thankful that we had an organization that believed that we could be the cornerstones of bringing the championship with the right pieces around us.”
Taylor regaled about his time playing with the Patriots and talked about how Boston is the best region for sports. He asked Tatum what it has been like playing in Boston. Tatum said that his time playing for Duke University helped him prepare for playing in Boston but he talked about the fans and the difference of having to play here, saying, “I think it’s a great place to be in because they expect more, so it raises your level of discipline and focus and play because you come into the arena. There’s only championship banners, like we don’t hang for making a conference finals or divisional. It’s championship or nothing and it’s not like that in any other arena…being here for nine years, like the fans and the people really know the game and they really care. Like, it’s real.”
Clark then asked about the pressure of not winning a championship in Boston despite being so close. Tatum said, “We definitely felt it. A lot of times, former players come back and whether it be Rondo, KG, Paul [Pierce], or Cedric Maxwell who works for the team, they talk about the ‘86 Celtics. The thing they had in common is they won. They won one or multiple championships…if I had the career I had right now with the Grizzlies, I would have a statue outside the arena. But now, I’m chasing people like Larry Bird where the standard is so much higher and it’s like you don’t want to be the great player of the Celtics that ‘oh, you the one guy that didn’t win.‘”
Clark asked about his time on Team USA during the 2024 Olympics where it was highly publicized that he wasn’t getting any time on the court. Tatum said it was tough, explaining, “In 2024, I was First Team All-NBA, came off a championship, I was on the cover of 2K, like I was on top of the world. I just signed the largest contract in NBA history and then I get to the Olympics and it didn’t go how I wanted it. We still won, I built some relationships, and I gained some great memories from it but the toughest part was everybody was like, ‘Yo, I can’t wait until you play the Warriors. I know you going to try and kill them. Like when you see Steve Kerr again and it was like, ‘Yeah, how about like how am I feeling right now?’… I feel like people didn’t take into account how I was trying to process that in real time because I couldn’t process. I couldn’t understand.“
Crowder then asked if he could have talked to Steve Kerr about his playing time but Tatum didn’t feel like rocking the boat. He said, “I always keep it cool. I’m not going to rock the boat. I’m always going to be a professional. I’m going to show up. Cuz we’re here to win a gold medal, right? If we come up short, we wasted our summer. So, I was still able to keep that even though I could disagree or me and the coach not seeing eye to eye… I still had the wherewithal of like, ‘I’m going to do what I can with the time that they give me and we still going to find a way to win.‘”
Relationship with Kobe Bryant
Finally, Clark asked about the disrespect that Kobe Bryant has gotten in the general audience in recent years. Tatum used the word “cowardly” in his response and how people never spoke about him like that when he was alive. Tatum said Kobe was the reason as why he worked so hard growing up, saying, “He is the reason why I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, why I chased my dream, because I saw how hard he worked. I watched all his interviews, I watched his mannerisms, how he played on the court, how he handled adversity, how he handled winning. He was my inspiration and my idol. So, somebody 3,000 miles away from me inspired me to be who I am. When I see people discredit him or talk out the side of their neck, I do kind of take it personal because it’s like that dude meant everything to me and this energy wasn’t the same when he was here.”
