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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
BOSTON — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum joked that his coach, Joe Mazzulla, probably sees a chance to motivate him in the disappointments of an overwhelmingly positive year that included an NBA title and a gold medal.
Even with the success, Tatum didn’t win NBA Finals MVP and was a healthy scratch in two games as part of Team USA’s run at the Paris Olympics.
“Motivation? I guess you could say that, if you want to simplify it,” Tatum said Tuesday morning at the team’s practice facility as part of media day, which the Celtics held almost a week ahead of the rest of the NBA because of their upcoming preseason trip to Abu Dhabi to play the Denver Nuggets. “In real time, [not playing in the Olympics] was tough. And Joe, I talked to Joe a lot. Joe was probably the happiest person in the world that I didn’t win Finals MVP and I didn’t play in two games of the Olympics. That was odd, but if you know Joe, it makes sense.”
While Boston finally reached the mountaintop to claim its record-setting 18th NBA title in June, and then Tatum won his second gold medal in three years a couple months later, plenty of attention was paid to Jaylen Brown edging Tatum out for Eastern Conference finals and NBA Finals MVP honors, as well as Tatum’s sitting out both games against Serbia as part of the Olympic tournament.
And while Tatum said he didn’t need any extra motivation coming into the season, he did admit that the summer was at times a challenging one — specifically saying he’d never experienced being in the situation he was during the Olympics.
“Did I need any extra motivation coming into the season? No, I’m not gonna give anybody in particular credit that they’re motivating me to come into the season,” Tatum said. “It was a unique circumstance, something I haven’t experienced before in my playing career. But I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason. I was coming off a championship, highest of highs, cover of 2K, a new contract, and that happened. Whatever the reason is, I haven’t figured out yet. But I am a believer that everything happens for a reason.
“But it was a good experience. We won a gold medal, I won my second one, I was around some of the best players to play the game on a daily basis, build some friendships and was able to bring my family out there and enjoy the Olympics as a whole. So that was a plus for me, for sure.”
There were plenty of plusses for Tatum over the past several months. He finally crossed winning a title off his list, and claimed his third straight first-team All-NBA selection. This summer, in addition to winning that second gold medal, he also was put on the cover of the latest NBA 2K video game. Sunday night, he was in Los Angeles for the premiere of “Starting 5,” the Netflix documentary he and several other NBA stars took part in.
Now the focus shifts to the upcoming season and Boston’s hopes of claiming a 19th championship banner. And after Tatum finally claimed the first title of his career — after making it to the NBA Finals in 2022 and to the Eastern Conference finals in four of the prior six seasons — he admitted it feels a lot different coming into the season having won the championship instead of figuring out how to go about doing so.
“Yeah, it does feel different,” he said. “Not from a place of being complacent, not that I’m relaxed or comfortable. It’s all about what you’re trying to achieve, and we’re trying to achieve greatness. I believed we were going to win at some point. We were at a sustained level of greatness for six years. Even before that we were so close, we were taking the proper steps and we finally knocked down the door. And it was never just about trying to just win one.
“Now you get to at least be in the same room with the other Celtics great teams, great players. All the guys I looked up to growing up won at least one championship. Now it’s just a conversation of, ‘How great are you trying to be? What room or what tier are you trying to be mentioned in when it’s all said and done?’ And understanding the window you have to maximize that time.
“It does feel different being up here as a champion and knowing what it takes and wanting to be on the top of the mountain as many times as you can.”