Celtics star Jayson Tatum talks about winning his first NBA championship, turning the page to this season, and the sensation that is his son, Deuce
Jayson Tatum is now an NBA champion and author. He spent the summer winning a title, an Olympic gold medal, taking his celebration tour, and then finally discussing his children’s book, which was released this month.
He sat down in front of dozens of parents and children at the Maynard Fine Arts Theatre, one day after being a guest on “The Tonight Show” starring Jimmy Fallon, driving his own car to the appearance.
Tatum opened up in front of his mostly young audience, touching on a variety of topics, including his seven-year wait to win a championship and that feeling of reaching the NBA mountaintop after falling short many times.
“We’ve gotten close a bunch of times,” he said. “We lost in the Finals. There’s a lot of people that doubted us, and I remember thinking about, ‘Man, when we win the championship, I can’t wait to tell everybody that doubted us, that had something to say.’
But you realize that moment that we won, when the confetti was falling and then the parade, it’s not about the people that doubted you. It’s about you guys, the guys that supported us along the way. Everybody that believed in us, and I can honestly say, the parade was the best two hours of my life.”
Tatum acknowledged the criticism was difficult. He didn’t talk about his Olympic experience, including coach Steve Kerr keeping kept out of both games against Serbia, but winning his second gold medal may not have carried as much significance as the first.
“It’s tough to see people talking about you on TV or doubting you on TV, or all the things they say on Twitter because for one, how much you sacrifice and how hard you work on your craft,” he said. “You want to be the best. You want to play your best every single night and it just doesn’t work out that way.”
The Celtics finished 16-3 during their championship run, including a “gentleman’s sweep” of the Mavericks, finishing the series at home after strong performances from Tatum and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. Tatum said he didn’t think it would be Dallas to come out of the Western Conference. Like many, he thought the defending champion Nuggets would emerge.
“People always ask me, when did you guys know you were going to win a championship?” Tatum said. “When Minnesota beat Denver, I felt like Denver was the only team that they matched up best with us. I thought that we were going to play Denver in the Finals and it was going to be a good one.
“But when we were in Dallas and we went up, 3-0, oh my God. Nobody has ever come back from 0-3, so I remember getting back to the locker room and I remember saying, I don’t know what game it’s going to be, but we’re going to win the championship. That was a weird feeling. I wasn’t able to sleep that night and I remember the morning of Game 4 we had shootaround, and I had never been in the position that if we win tonight, we’re champions.
We were at shootaround and everybody was trying to act normal. I couldn’t take a nap. We lost by like 30. We wanted to win so bad. We were so anxious and so tight. But I knew when we were coming back home for Game 5, we were going to win.” Tatum said he’s still in disbelief that he’s entering Year 8 in the NBA.
“More so than anything, just trying to enjoy the moment,” he said. “Not looking down the road five years from now. I just know how fast it goes, and one day you’re going to look up and you’ll be retired.”
Tatum’s book, entitled “Baby Dunks a-Lot,” was inspired by Tatum reading books to his son, Deuce, during the time apart in the NBA bubble in 2020. Deuce has become one of the more popular figures in the Celtics franchise, whether it be throwing his father passes before games, or jumping into his arms after they won the championship.
“It’s wild, it really is,” Tatum said. “I never thought I was going to be as famous as I guess I am, or our relationship would be as documented or publicized. I wanted to be the best basketball player I could be and the best father I could be. I didn’t want to sacrifice, either. I just wanted him to be around as much as possible.
I wanted to share these moments, even if he couldn’t remember them at the time we were creating these moments. I always wanted him at the game. My mom would bring him. He just had a personality of his own. He always runs on the court and in the locker room.
“He only knew going to Celtics games. He’s spoiled. He just thought that was normal. Once he started going to school, I give him a lot of credit. He handles it really well. He’s a very respectful young kid. I go to his school a lot and sit in class with him or go to lunch with his classmates like I’m one of the first-graders. I sit in those little chairs. I know all of his classmates. That’s cool for me to see him in a normal environment. Around the first-graders, he’s just Deuce.”
Can the Celtics repeat? They’re resisting comparing this season and last. The journey will be dramatically different.
“[Coach] Joe Mazzulla, he had a great quote the other day,” Tatum said. “He said, we’re not defending anything. We’re chasing another championship. We enjoyed it all summer. We enjoyed it during training camp. I can’t wait for opening night to get our rings and see the banner being raised.
But honestly, after opening night, we have to put it behind us. It’s a new season. Last year was last year, we accomplished something special. We’ve got to figure out a way to get better. We wanted to approach the game with the same mind-set, and we did an amazing job of that last year.
