When Jayson Tatum and his classmates were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, most played it safe, choosing conventional careers like being a doctor or a lawyer … but not Tatum, who told his second-grade teacher his dream was to play in the NBA. Tatum’s teacher suggested he pick something more “realistic.” Little did she know.
Now an NBA All-Star for the Boston Celtics, Tatum knew all along he was destined for hoops stardom, even if others didn’t see it. Tatum’s talent was always evident—he was named Gatorade’s National Player of the Year as a senior in high school—but what set the 6’8” forward apart was his tireless work ethic, a trait engrained in him by longtime trainer Drew Hanlen. “I basically tried to kill him,” said Hanlen, who took Tatum under his wing at the behest of Bradley Beal (the NBA’s leading scorer this season for the Washington Wizards), who considered Tatum a “little brother” growing up in St. Louis. “But he kept coming back.”
Hanlen put Tatum, then only 13, through the ringer, pairing him with college-age players like former University of Washington guard Scott Suggs. Tatum’s sessions with Hanlen were taxing to say the least (“He said he thought he was going to pass out,” Tatum’s mother, Brandy, recalled after his first workout), but his hunger for greatness never waned.
“His ceiling is really high,” Hanlen told Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix. “And he’s just getting started.” If the 22-year-old is truly “just getting started,” NBA defenders better strap in. Though a two-week bout with COVID shelved him for five games, Tatum has been magnificent when healthy this year, averaging a career-high 26.8 points per game on head-turning 47.8-percent shooting including 41.1 percent from downtown. Hanlen has been with Tatum—the recent recipient of a five-year, $195-million max extension—every step of the way, guiding him through his shooting woes at Duke and a sophomore slump that briefly eroded his confidence.
“He was overthinking,” said Hanlen of Tatum’s regression after a promising debut season. “He wasn’t living up to his own expectations.”
Tatum survived that rough patch, turning the page on his frustrating 2018-19 campaign with a breakout season the following year (23.4 points per game). Now entrenched as the Celtics’ go-to scorer and unquestioned franchise cornerstone, what’s next for Tatum? For Hanlen, that’s easy.
“He’ll lead the NBA in scoring someday,” promised Hanlen. “You will be able to run a championship offense through him.”
That’s an ambitious goal, but so was making it to the NBA in the first place, and he managed to accomplish that.
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