Jayson Tatum: Am I a bus driver or a bus rider? | Forward Progress

0:01Hey, it's Graham. It's Thursday, and that means we're offering you another positive piece of a past interview. Each week, our team digs through the archives to find our strongest feel-good stories to present to you in podcast form. This week, Jayson Tatum.

0:21What did your morning routine entail growing up as it pertained to practice and when you were waking up? Yeah, so when I turned 16, I had a car and that's when I started my waking up at 545, 530, coming to the gym at 615. I love walking into an empty gym and being the first person to turn the lights on. Like that, that feeling is hard to describe because this is like, you know, this is my life. It's always, it's what I've always wanted to do. And I couldn't imagine doing anything else. That's when I knew he was gonna make it because I didn't have to wake him up. I'm not a morning person You know, I joke with him and I'm like listen God didn't raise the Sun yet.

1:06Then clearly he don't want me up I don't I'm not getting up when it's still dark outside. I didn't have to push him That was something he wanted to do Well, there was always this idea that somebody was working harder than me or when I wasn't working out somebody else was somebody in New York Somebody in LA there was a handful of times I overslept and those are like the worst days of my high school career of the sense of like, I just felt terrible all day. My opportunity of my dream may have slipped away. And, you know, I think that level of fear really helped me get to this point. You said once there have been times where I questioned, am I the right person to kind of lead a group like this?

1:45Explain that. Yeah. And that was the beginning of this year. I kind of felt that way. Why? I was 23, playing for the biggest franchise in the NBA with the expectations of being the best player, being the best leader, being the best teammate, and being a guy that can take a team to a championship. The doubt came from, you know, you work so hard to get to this point and you work so hard to be the best player you can be. And everybody's been there where it's like, it's just not going how you thought it would go. And that can be a little discouraging sometimes. because everything that I have, I'm giving it to this game and my team.

2:29And we were like four games under.500, and it was just like the toughest start to a season that I've had. And, you know, I think part of our profession is like being honest and being candid of like, you know, there are times where I doubt myself in those moments. It's not long. And the doubts are what? You know, you think about, can I be the best player on a championship team? Because not many guys can. You know, it's only the best of the best of the best. But that's what I aspire to be. And there were moments at the games where I was like, this is just not working. But I think I've always stayed with it.

3:12I'm human. You know, I have those raw emotions of thoughts and things that go to my head. I read somewhere that you have the tendency to suffer in silence. Any truth to that? I'm big on figuring it out. In my mind, it's like, what's the point of me throwing my problems on other people? Everybody has their own problems. Growing up, my idea of being a man was figuring it out. Nobody's going to feel bad for you. Nobody's going to help you out. You have to have the mindset of, like, I need to figure this out. I need to get it done. And that's how, like, my mindset, right or wrong, that's just how I thought.

3:53Explain the texts that your mom will send you sometimes during NBA games. Not so much this past year because I told her, like, I don't look at my phone at halftime anymore because there were times my first three, four years in the league where I might not be as aggressive as I should be or I got seven points at halftime, and she watches every game, never misses a game. Especially on the road. She'll send me these long messages. You need to do this. You're not doing this. If this how you're going to play, me and Deuce will watch something else. We'll watch a movie. If you're not going to play, I can go home.

4:33Deuce can go to bed. It's late. You know if you're not going to give a good effort, but it was all meant to just light a little fire up under and motivate them. And then at the end of the game, I have 40, and I'm like, ma, it's two halves to every game. You know, you just got to relax. She was like, well, if you played like this in the first half, you could have scored 80. I'm like, ma, that's not how it works. It's kind of what Coach K would do as well. Yeah, he plays better when he's mad. And why is that? I have no idea, but it's always been that way. Why somebody got to piss you off to get this out of you?

5:05but it's all a part of the maturation. That's it for now, but if you're hungry for more In-Depth with Graham Bensinger interviews, head over to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12-plus years. Thanks again for listening.