Jayson Tatum Finds Hope in Celtics Coach’s Locker Room Message to Break Past Grueling Olympics Season

Life looks way more colorful from Jayson Tatum‘s lenses right now. Tatum is on the cover of the NBA 2K25 video game, he is on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and most importantly, he earned his maiden chip followed by an Olympic gold. Besides his impressive accomplishments in sports, the All-Star forward has also tried his hand at writing and rapping. While the latter didn’t go down that well with the fans, the former received a lot of love, especially from the young audience. So, it was only understandable for the father of Deuce to give back to his young fans. Tatum did exactly that when he sat down in front of dozens of parents and children at the Maynard Fine Arts Theatre.

While talking about his success story with the Shamrocks, Tatum was asked the obvious question of whether the Celtics could repeat their championship title in the upcoming season. And his answer is bound to win a lot of hearts. To address the question, Tatum quoted their head coach Joe Mazzulla, who said, “We’re not defending anything. We’re chasing another championship.” The 26-year-old gave an insight into how much they have enjoyed their victory throughout the summer and said that he is waiting restlessly for the league’s opening night to get their rings and see the banner.

“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,” Tatum added, hoping for the continuity of his success.

From the 26-year-old’s words, it was clear that the team is looking to approach the season with the same mindset and the hopes of replicating the same result from the unchanged attitude. Joe Mazzula’s locker room pep talk embodied that hope of successfully chasing down yet another title to distance themselves further as the best in the land.

The Celtics had a phenomenal last season under Mazzulla. Keeping aside their championship win, the regular season was equally remarkable and ended with a 64-18 record. While Tatum had an integral role to play in their victory, he often came under scrutiny for his lack of scoring abilities in the post-season tournament. The doubts didn’t just stick to the NBA, it also followed him to the Olympics, where he was spotted on the bench mostly due to Steve Kerr depriving him of minutes on the court.

Jayson Tatum opens up about testing Olympic run

The basketball community was stunned when USAB HC Steve Kerr chose not to play Jayson Tatum in two of the games against Serbia. The coach cleared the smoke by stating that it had nothing to do with his performance. However, rumors of their rift started floating. While Tatum didn’t mention Kerr’s name during the recent interview, he acknowledged how tough it is to deal with criticism stemming from the benching.

“It’s tough to see people talking about you on TV or doubting you on TV, or all the things they say on Twitter,” Tatum said. The 5-time All-Star also pointed out that the doubters don’t get to see the sacrifices he makes and the effort he puts into his work. He further added that everyone wants to give their best every day. However, it doesn’t always work that way.

Despite the rough treatment in Parsi, Tatum is determined to remain unfazed in his quest for national glory. “It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” Tatum told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

Now that Tatum has started decorating his cabinet with shiny new accolades, the critics will surely not have much to say. As of now, Tatum will be joining his Celtics teammates in the training camp for the preseason games before starting their chase for another title.