It seems Boston Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum has a hoop at his own home now.
Earlier in the month, it became clear not all NBA cribs are equal when we learned about the lack of access to a hoop many stars in the league found themselves having to navigate in the midst of a pandemic.
Tatum was one such player, who, like his peers, is expected to stay in a semblance of shape so any pre-return ramp-up of conditioning isn’t a mountain but more of a molehill-sized challenge.
The absence of a hoop for the Duke product in particular came to light in a meda conference call at the start of April. In it, the former Blue Devil spent time answering questions about what the team and himself in particular have been up to during the hiatus.
“I mean, [the pandemic] would be a lot easier, especially if I had a basketball court in my house,” Tatum said at the time via MassLive’s Tom Westerholm.
“But that’s kind of expensive,” he added. “Maybe I’ll get like a hoop that I could put on the outside of a garage or something.”
Jayson Tatum now has a hoop at his house and it looks like its name is Big Deuce: pic.twitter.com/tqTCCqKGhp
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) April 28, 2020
Starting on Tuesday morning, images began to circulate of the Missouri native’s new hoop, emblazoned with the name “Big Deuce” on the stanchion, presumably after his son, also called “Deuce”.
In a separate recent interview on the popular 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Felger & Mazz ” show, Celtic lead governor Wyc Grousbeck related his initial response to hearing Tatum was at a hoopless home:
“The minute I read that, I was texting a few key people and and then there was an interview. He did an interview two [or] three days later, [and] he’s like, ‘Well, I’ve ordered a hoop, it’s on the way [and] it’ll be in the driveway’, so I think that’s been addressed.”
“I think the first phase of our outreach was making sure everybody had fitness equipment, in their house, everything that they needed, and that was all set up, and so was [focused on] keeping in shape,” he continued.
“And then I guess maybe basketball is the second part, but now they’re all doing — my understanding is that they’re all doing — at home ball-handling drills and everything else,” concluded Grousbeck.
No word at present on how many or what percentage of Celtics players are hooping it up in their driveway or home, or still stuck using the garbage pail and crumpled-up paper for a substitute.
But one thing, at least, is certain about the latter group.
Tatum is no longer part of it.
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