After the blowout victory, it felt like the Team USA camp almost moved on from Jayson Tatum’s snub in two games. However, it seems the case wasn’t the same. Even after the Gold medal finish, the NBA community is coming after Coach Kerr. And the one leading the charge is Jayson Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum.

A couple of hours ago, Justin questioned coach Kerr’s decision to bench his Celtics star son as he stated, “As a coach, I would have no reservations of playing him. As a coach I would find a way to play him. Why hasn’t he played? I don’t see it.” Since the question has surfaced that Justin Tatum would have coached him better, it raises concerns about whether Jayson Tatum’s father is a coach. Well, it can’t be put in doubt since the Celtics star’s dad is a coach. But a Pro coach? Let’s find out about it.

Is Justin Tatum guiding the pro league players?

Yes! Jayson Tatum‘s father is a pro coach for basketball players but not at our favorite NBA league. Rather, he is the coach of the Illawarra Hawks team at the National Basketball League in Australia. The 45-year-old got his three-year contract as a permanent head coach in February this year. However, he did not particularly start in this role at the Hawks. In February last year, he joined the Hawks as a special advisor to basketball operations and North American scout.

After almost three months, Justin Tatum was promoted to the role of assistant coach for the Illawarra and later to interim head coach in November 2023 because of the ex-head coach Jacob Jackomas’ poor performance. When Justin Tatum took charge, he made his team win seven games out of the nine games helping them finish at the fourth position. With such an impressive record, he also barely missed the chance of being the NBL Coach of the Year.

Considering that Jayson Tatum’s godfather is former NBA player Larry Hughes, fans can expect that Justin Tatum was also an NBA player. But to their surprise, he was not!

Justin Tatum Basketball Career

Justin Tatum never got to play in the NBA league. However, he was a basketball star as he got to share the court with ex-NBA star Larry Hughes at Christian Brothers College High School. As seniors, both of them won their high school team a Missouri State Title in 1997. As a father, he somehow managed his responsibilities as he enrolled at Saint Louis University to play basketball. Though it was not always rainbows and sunshine during his collegiate career, he managed to become the second-leading scorer for the Billikens’ Conference USA championship team in 2000. He racked up about 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds that year.

After graduation, Justin Tatum went to the Netherlands to play for Aris Leeuwarden in Dutch Promotiedivisie. It was a second-tier basketball league in the Netherlands. However, Justin won them a championship and took his team to the first-tier Dutch Basketball league. And it was “tough” for Justin to play while staying away from his family for 10 months of the year. After spending three years, he ended his professional career with an average of 15.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists

Later Justin kicked off his coaching journey at his Christian Brothers High School as an assistant coach in 2006-07. From 2007-12, Jayson’s father gained experience at Soldan High School Boys’ basketball team. However, he eventually returned to his alma mater to serve them for 10 consecutive seasons as a coach. Later, for about two years, in 2022 and 2023, Justin was an assistant coach at St. Louis Surge of GWBA before moving to Australia.

From the looks of it, Justin Tatum deems fit to advise Steve Kerr for coaching. However, there’ll be always a difference between coaching a pro team and an Olympic team. Do you share the same opinion? Let us know in the comments.