The ‘Tatum’ name holds a presence even outside the confines of the NBA world. After all, the father of the Boston Celtics star, Justin Tatum, has created his own identity in the sport. The 45-year-old’s work with the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks was finally recognized by the league after the coach was recently awarded the Lindsay Gaze Trophy for Coach of the Year! It was a joyous moment that Jayson Tatum couldn’t be more than happy to congratulate his dad over. At the same time, however, he had to drop a truth bomb since they were discussing that specific topic.

Justin Tatum’s achievement was touched upon during Jayson’s presser after the recent Celtics-Spurs matchup. The 2024 NBA champion revealed that he is “super happy” for his father, as he was able to receive such an accolade despite becoming the interim head coach only last season. Along with discussing Justin, Jayson also discussed the NBL team he coaches. Unfortunately, in the moment of honesty, he had to confess “You know, I watch when I can. The time difference is weird”. From what limited games he saw, however, Jayson saw that the Illawarra Hawks players “play some really good basketball, some talented guys over there, you know”. As for Justin, “He worked hard, and made the most out of his opportunity, and that’s a big deal, being coach of the year over there”.

The NBL takes place in Australia, and the Illawarra Hawks are based in Wollongong, New South Wales. This places the city on the East Coast of the island. Therefore, Wollongong is 16 hours ahead of Boston, which means that Thursday, 9 pm in Tatum Jr’s city would be Friday, 1 pm in Tatum Sr’s city. If that isn’t enough, there is no fixed time for the Hawks’ games to take place. Between September 21 and September 29, 2024, three games were played. One took place at 12:30 PM CET, the next one at 11:30 AM, and the third one at 6:30 AM. Doing the math, one finds that the NBL is a tough league to follow. Especially if you’re living in the US, and are a professional basketball player who has his own playing schedule to adhere to.

Fortunately, if one person thrives in the NBL, it is Justin Tatum. It was only back in February 2023 that he became associated with the Australian Basketball League. Despite becoming the assistant coach in May 2023, Justin was promoted to interim head coach within six months after that. He was given the position after Jacob Jackomas was fired after the Hawks started the season with a 2–7 record. Under Justin’s leadership, the Hawks won 7 of the coach’s first 9 games in his new role. By February 2024, the coach had won over the team management, which led to him securing a three-year deal to continue as permanent head coach!

Justin helped the Hawks reach the semi-finals during the 2023-24 season. However, the team’s most significant moment came a few weeks ago. The Hawks finished on top of the ladder, with a 20–9 record, as part of the ongoing 2024-25 season. This was the team’s first ever top-of-the-ladder finish in 46 years, and what got Justin named NBL Coach of the Year.

Justin’s association with basketball is something that Jayson Tatum holds close to heart. After all, if his father wasn’t there to guide him during his childhood days, who knows where the Jordan Brand athlete would be today? Therefore, even if he doesn’t always watch the Hawks’ games, we know that the Celtics star’s support is always there. An example was only recently seen.

Jayson Tatum praised Drake for donning Justin’s Saint Louis Billikens jersey

Before he found fame with NBL’s Illawarra Hawks, Justin had to start his basketball career from somewhere. After playing different sports in school, Justin eventually committed to basketball and established a playing career by joining Saint Louis University. He played for their team, the Saint Louis Billikens, between 1998 and 2001. In 85 games, he averaged 8.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 0.7 assists. His college tenure would be as forgotten now as any of Joel Embiid’s memorable performances. However, Drake recently took a step to remind the world of the same.

The Canadian Rapper was recently in Australia for his Anita Max Wynn tour. Maybe he wanted to be as far away as possible when Kendrick Lamar performed ‘Not Like Us’ at the Super Bowl. Around 10 days ago, Drake was seen coming out of the car while wearing Justin Tatum’s Saint Louis Billikens jersey! The official X account of the Billikens highlighted that moment on their feed and wrote “If you ain’t been a part of it, at least you got to witness!”. Soon, the post caught the attention of Jayson Tatum himself. He retweeted it for his followers and added a ‘fire’ emoji as a caption.

The recent months have blessed the father-son duo well. Both Tatums took their respective teams to new heights, with Jayson even winning his first NBA championship. Now, what the future holds for these two is something that remains to be seen.