{"id":767738,"date":"2022-12-08T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=767738"},"modified":"2023-05-15T15:37:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T19:37:59","slug":"jayson-tatum-241","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/jayson-tatum-241\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayson Tatum is on a Mission to Handle Unfinished Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This cover story is featured in SLAM 241, which is available now. <\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 17, 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The morning after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The iPhone is downstairs, on the counter. The screen lights up every few seconds as texts pour in. They\u2019ve been rolling in for hours. Those will go unanswered for a while. If answered at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s only been a few hours since the 2022 NBA Finals ended, and the gut-wrenching feeling of knowing that he was a couple of wins away from claiming an NBA title is starting to sink in for Jayson Tatum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spent much of the night staying up trying to process what had just happened, lying in bed upstairs and replaying some of the pivotal moments of the series against the Golden State Warriors in his head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother, Brandy, who lives next door, spent the late-night hours after the game and the next morning at his home, trying to get him to snap out of the mental funk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But nothing seemed to be working that night, or the next day, or the day after that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe day after [when] you wake up, it\u2019s like waking up from a bad dream and realizing that you\u2019re not dreaming and that you actually, you know, you lost. How mentally and physically exhausting the season was, the playoffs, that series was, and you just, you don\u2019t want to do anything, you don\u2019t want to go anywhere, you don\u2019t want to be seen, you don\u2019t want to talk to anybody,\u201d says Tatum. \u201cI was miserable. I never got my heart broken, but I could imagine if somebody got their heart broken, or anything like that, that\u2019s how it felt. When I got home, I didn\u2019t even want to eat. Left my phone on the counter downstairs. I had hundreds of messages, people checking in on me, I just laid in the bed\u2014it took me a long time to go to sleep. I was just laying there. I was mad, I was upset, I was exhausted. And I just stared at the ceiling for hours until I fell asleep. That night and the next day waking up, like, Damn, we really lost the championship.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery uncharacteristic [of Jayson]. Jayson is known for having a short memory. He can shake whatever off, good or bad, high or low. He normally doesn\u2019t hang on to anything like that. But this was different\u2026Everybody knows, I\u2019ve gotten up at two in the morning if he\u2019s hungry, especially [for] tacos. He didn\u2019t want that. That\u2019s when I knew it was serious,\u201d says Brandy of one of Jayson\u2019s go-to meals, which up to that point he had never turned down. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to be bothered. He didn\u2019t want to talk. He was devastated. I understood. I know firsthand how much work he puts in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the season was over, Tatum found himself on the clock the morning after. A decision needed to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM 241 featuring Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum is out now. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past few years, Tatum and his fam have flown out of the country for Father\u2019s Day weekend. It\u2019s become an annual tradition. A way to unwind with loved ones as the summer kicks off and before he starts ramping up his preparation for the following season. But this spring, with the Celtics making a deep run into June, the family had not made any travel arrangements for the annual getaway. They had decided to wait it out. If the Finals went all the way to a Game 7, the decisive game would fall on Father\u2019s Day. And if the Celtics closed out the Warriors earlier, the parade in Boston could very well fall on that weekend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But once Golden State won Game 6 in Boston, Jayson had about 48 hours to make a decision before Father\u2019s Day and plan out an itinerary in order to keep the annual excursion alive. Except there was one problem: Jayson had no desire to step out anywhere that weekend, let alone go on a trip. He had decided to call off the tradition. He just couldn\u2019t get himself to go on a vacation so soon after coming so close to helping Boston get its 18th<\/sup> championship banner.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brandy, concerned, wanted to make sure that Jayson didn\u2019t get too caught up in the loss and that he took the proper time to clear his head and unwind before he transitioned to offseason training. She knew it was important for him to take the trip now more than ever. But since Jayson was adamant about not going anywhere, she deployed the one thing she knew would work when all others failed: Deuce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just let him have his moment, his time, but once I felt like enough was enough, we\u2019re not gonna sulk all summer, that\u2019s when I used my secret weapon,\u201d says Brandy of Deuce, Jayson\u2019s 5-year-old son, who has become a celebrity of his own. \u201cDeuce can win him down with anything. Deuce makes all things good, so I used my secret weapon\u2014sent Deuce in there to ask him. It always works.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt took some convincing, because I didn\u2019t want to leave the house for a couple of days. I was glad I did. I think that\u2019s the best part about being a dad, taking your mind off things [and] going out [of] the country with him. He\u2019s 4 [at the time], so he doesn\u2019t really know or, for lack of better words, care that we just lost. He wants me to help him build a sand castle and go swimming with him. In the midst of all of that, he kind of took my mind off things, especially so close to us just losing,\u201d Tatum recalls. \u201cHe\u2019s spoiled, he gets whatever he wants. So, him coming and asking me, Daddy, can we go somewhere? I want to go to the beach!<\/em> It\u2019s hard to say no. He ultimately got his way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so off to the Cayman Islands they went. Brandy says they ended up booking travel just 24 hours before the plane took off. And although he was no longer stateside, there was no escaping the Finals chatter, as Jayson soon found out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverywhere I went this summer, somebody mentioned something about the Finals,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing in the Cayman Islands, four or five days afterward, everybody\u2014whether it was the driver, or the waiter, or the other guests at the resort\u2014it was nonstop. And not that they meant anything wrong by it. They were just true fans and they saw somebody that played in the Finals. But it was something I had to deal with every day of the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he got back from the trip, Jayson immediately turned his focus to the upcoming season. He knew he wanted to approach the offseason very differently from past years. A focal point became his diet. He admits that up to this past summer, he was never truly conscious about what he ate and didn\u2019t follow any kind of regimented diet. He ate whatever he pleased and then just went out there and earned All-NBA First Team last season. But the deep playoff run in 2022 made him reevaluate everything. It had taken a toll on him physically and mentally. He logged 983 minutes in the playoffs last season\u2014the most minutes played in a single postseason since LeBron James played exactly 983 in 2012. Tatum played the most cumulative minutes overall last season, too, when factoring in the regular season: 3,714. It\u2019s a testament to his ability to stay healthy, to be counted on to stay on the floor and play through pain and fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although he\u2019s not one to make excuses, we\u2019ll do it for him here. After playing exceptionally well down the stretch in the regular season and carrying his team to the Finals, the wear and tear started to become noticeable in certain moments against the Warriors. He had run out of gas. A feeling he vows won\u2019t ever happen again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really had a different mindset [this summer]\u2014I knew what it took to get to the Finals and I know how much more it takes to get over that hump. And I need to separate myself. I need to do something different. I need for my summer to be different than it was last year and the year before that. I need to prepare better. I hired a chef. I started to eat better. Started working on my body even more than I previously was because I knew playing until June, your body has to be prepared for that,\u201d he says. \u201cFirst, coming into the League, I didn\u2019t really have a routine. I ate whatever I wanted to and I just went out there and played basketball. But now I\u2019m very routine-based, and even though I\u2019m only 24, I\u2019ve played a lot of basketball, so [I was] trying to find the different ways to give me an edge.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tatum spends part of every summer training in L.A. It\u2019s his own six-week training camp before the start of Celtics training camp. And being in sunny SoCal, he\u2019s always tried to have some fun while out there. But Brandy, who stayed behind this year, says word quickly got back to her on the East Coast that Jayson was using his time in L.A. much differently this time around. This summer, it was all business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody that was there, trainers, any friends that visit, everyone, they were calling and they were like, It\u2019s something different [this year]. This is like bootcamp! He\u2019s so locked in,<\/em>\u201d she recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jayson adds: \u201cIt was like, I didn\u2019t really have time for other things. I love to play golf [but] I didn\u2019t play golf not one time when I was in L.A. Just \u2019cause after everything we did every day, by the time we got back to the house and watched some film, did treatment, put ice on my legs, it was six, seven o\u2019clock. The sun is going down, I\u2019m exhausted, and I\u2019m just preparing to get ready for the next day. The guys that were with me, they could attest to it that this summer was just different. I was determined to not have that feeling again of losing in the Finals\u2026That\u2019s all I cared about coming into the season\u2014getting back to that point and not feeling like that again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 6-8 star\u2019s first five seasons in the NBA have arguably been as successful as anyone\u2019s first five years in the League over the past decade. Three Conference Finals appearances\u2014including his rookie year in 2018, where he came within one win of reaching the NBA Finals. A trip to the Finals in 2022, where he fell just short of capturing a championship against a team that will go down as one of the game\u2019s dynasties. He\u2019s made the playoffs every year of his career so far. He surpassed 1,500 career playoff points earlier this year. The only player in NBA history to do that at a younger age was Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Tatum\u2019s definition of success is different from the rest of us. In his mind, when it comes to this, there is no glass half-full. His competitive side won\u2019t allow him to find solace in the deep playoff runs or record-breaking numbers. If anything, it\u2019s had the opposite effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that was the toughest part this summer, everybody coming up and saying, You\u2019ll be back. You were so close. You made it to the Finals<\/em>. And it\u2019s like, only one team won last year, right? We got to the Finals but you come to our arena or practice facility, we only hang up banners if you win. No conference champions or division champions\u2014we don\u2019t care about those. You either win or you lose,\u201d says Tatum. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the mindset that I have and the group has. So, it\u2019s not like a moral victory. We play this game to win, and you\u2019re never satisfied until you do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite the NBA Finals run, the Celtics found themselves with lots of question marks coming into this season. The drama around the offseason coaching change\u2014Tatum\u2019s third head coach in three years\u2014was one. Then a couple of their core guys\u2014Danilo Gallinari and Robert Williams\u2014suffered major injuries before opening night, adding extra obstacles to the list. The result? The Celtics have the best record in the NBA and they were in the midst of a nine-game winning streak when we did our cover shoot with Tatum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think with having a new head coach, along with Gallo tearing his ACL and not knowing when he\u2019ll be able to come back, and Rob missing the first part of the season until he gets back, it obviously didn\u2019t look how we thought it would look coming back into the season. But I think all those things in a way made us buckle down even more, made us come together, knowing that there was a lot of things stacked up against us,\u201d Tatum admits. \u201cAnd we coulda chalked it up to a new coach, we have guys out, we played late into the season, or we could really buckle down because nobody is going to feel bad for us. We got a target on our back every night, we\u2019re going to get other teams\u2019 best shot because they know we went to the championship and they know the talent level that we have. So, every night is going to be tough regardless of whatever their record is, home or away. I think that has made us a better team.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n