Jayson Tatum on Celtics’ success, teammate Jaylen Brown & more | NBA Today YouTube Exclusive

Jayson Tatum on Celtics’ success, teammate Jaylen Brown & more | NBA Today YouTube Exclusive

It seems like from the outside looking in this team is incredibly close like you guys are just having a ton of fun am I getting that right no you’re right uh great great group of guys chemistry is at alltime high obviously you know everything helps when you’re winning

Yeah but uh we just got some really good guys on our team guys that you know understand their role understand their time and their career um understand what we’re trying to accomplish and uh we just got all the right pieces that just seem to fit perfectly what surprised you

About Chris STS poring the most uh it’s weird like how cool he is but also like you didn’t think he was cool I just didn’t know how cool he was very like chill mellow guy um drinks an espresso before the game um definitely a man of the people when he comes out for

Layup lines he you know goes like this and everybody loses their mind uh but he’s a lot tougher too like obious I’m not saying I thought he was soft but um um he has an edge about him and I think we’ve helped bring that out of him even

More um it’s been really good to see bringing a little dog out of him yeah so in all of the bonding that you guys have done have you watched the town with Joe moula yet have I watched it with him no but uh I’ve seen it a couple of times

Four times a week like he watches it that’s objectively like that’s that’s intense but he’s an intense dude he’s his own person you and Jaylen Brown you worked out together right over the summer a little bit with Drew M that was a first for you guys right in the

Summertime yeah so why did you feel like that you this was the time that you guys needed to come together put in that extra work as a Duo not just individually so your games complimented each other when you came back yeah I think over the last few years we’ve

Taken strides of like coexisting together getting the best out of each other while being the best version of ourselves and being the you know the leaders that our team need us to be and I think uh as part of just getting older IMM maturing right still relatively young guys but

Understanding that um you know this is like this is our time and we need to take full advantage of it and we were both in La at the same time so um why not let’s get in the gym let’s work out together let’s get some reps uh you know

It’s going to pay off in the long long run what do you like about Jaylen I feel like so much is made of like oh do they get what what do you like about him he he he’s a guy like what I notice about him he knows what he wants like

He’s not saying other guys are unsure but um he always he’s like a very focused guy very driven U works his works his but off uh you know I I just love the progress that he’s made from his first year right um he was on a really good team came off the bench

Wasn’t playing as much um and now is a three-time Allstar all NBA caliber guy um and that just goes to show how much he loves the game of basketball how hard he works at it um and how much he how badly he wants to win win yeah you guys

Have been one of if not the best team in the NBA record-wise all season long but to you how much stock do you put in this now versus knowing that this is a team that is really measured in the playoffs both um the regular season is

There for a reason right you have to build the right habits you have to uh build chemistry and things like that and I just love the way that we’re playing right obviously I love our record 43 44 and 12 which something but the way that we’re playing uh the

Way guys are coexisting together um the way that we’re going about it there’s a difference from last year and we had a really good team last year yeah uh but I love where we’re at this year compared to last season do you think that this is

The best team that you’ve played on is it better than the 2022 finals team yeah it is uh just because I think I’m better than I was two years ago JB is better uh you know KP makes the world all the difference in the world U obviously Drew

Holiday and the way that Derek wh been playing you know this year compared to two years ago uh and I I think it’s just that’s how it’s supposed to be we’re still relatively young so everybody supposed to continue to get better yeah and learn from our experiences you know

That was our first time going through that and now we know what it takes to get there we just got to get it done when we do who do you think is the best player in the NBA right now uh myself is have you always had that kind

Of confidence because I don’t I asked you that question a year ago and you said it was Giannis so what’s given you that confidence I got a lot of respect for a lot of guys in the league Giannis for sure um yage obviously he just won and be guys that won

MVPs uh and the list goes on the league is in a great place um I think you know the things that I’ve been through um just through my career things that I’ve accomplished and yet you know I haven’t got the ultimate Championship uh I truly do believe every

Night I step on the floor I’m the best player is that a mentality that you’ve worked to hone because I think back to the 2022 finals that wonderful story you worked on with Ramona shelburn about how difficult it was in the days afterwards wanting to just be in your room be sort

Of shut away and being pretty disappointed in yourself you put all of that on yourself did you have to work to sort of forgive yourself in order to move forward uh I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason and maybe I needed to go through that uh for

Something haven’t figured that out yet but um it happened and I’ve I’ve grown from it I’ve learned from it um and a weird way I’m thankful for it that experience as tough as it was as much as it hurt um I’m thankful that I went

Through that and I think it’s made me a better person and player um since then how much does knowing that Deuce is six now yeah and he’s watching you and understanding everything you do and I’m sure he’s mimicking you parting your actions in some ways how does that

Factor into how you hold yourself now man Deuces and I’ve always said it uh he between him and my mom right I give th those two people a lot of credit for the person that I am you know aside from basketball knowing that I have somebody that literally

Wants to do everything I do exactly like I do it and my mom you know has reminded me from the the beginning you know ever since Duce was born uh you know she was like it’s not only yourself that you’re represented it’s not only you know her

As my mom she’s like you have a son now who is going to want to be just like you so remember to make the right decisions you know um on and off the court and be somebody that you know he would be proud of um and that’s something that you know

I’ve carried ever since yeah has your process changed at all I mean it just talking to you now it seems like the way that you were stepping onto the floor you always had that you’ve evoked Kobe you’ve talked about that that quiet confidence it feels louder yeah uh and maybe I’ve kind of

Grown into my own in a sense right uh still like I said still young 25 but it’s my seventh year in the league and I’m very confident because I know how hard I work I know how much I put into this game I know how badly I want to be

One of the best how badly I want to win uh so it’s like why wouldn’t I be confident CU I know how hard I work you’re I mean it’s kind of wild when we talk about oh someone’s been in the league seven years and they’re only 25

Years old anywhere else in the world that’s where your life starts is when you’re 25 and in the NBA people put a clock on that oh why haven’t you done this this or that and the beauty of only being 25 is you get to write your entire

Story in front of you so when you think about that and when you think about what you want to be known as what you want to be remembered as what you want to have accomplished what are those things in your career I want to be a winner I want

To win uh and it’s funny that you say that cuz i’ I’ve felt that that um you know why hasn’t he won you know his window has closed and it’s it’s tough when you have success early right because I’ve been to the finals once I’ve been in the Conference Finals four

Times so it just seems like you know he should have done this done that um and I was just doing those things at a really young age yeah um now I’ve had some really good teams and I’ve been a part of some really special runs uh but I

Truly do believe my time is coming and it’s going to be well worth it

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Jayson Tatum joins Malika Andrews for an exclusive interview detailing his success with the Boston Celtics, the playoff outlook for the Celtics, his camaraderie with teammate Jaylen Brown and more.