Boston Celtics third-year swingman spoke with Celtics beat reporters on Monday afternoon, speaking with them about the state of the team, the league and himself since the start of the league-wide shutdown on Mar. 12th.
The St. Louis native related it is “tough” that the 2019-20 NBA season to be shut down for the time being as the NBA works to ensure player, staff and fan safety, reports The Athletic’s Jay King, but understands the context of basketball in the bigger picture of the pandemic.
“Everybody wants to be playing, but everybody understands that there’s more important things going on,” noted Tatum courtesy of team reporter Taylor Snow. “Whatever happens with the season, I’m sure they’ll make the right decision in the right interest of making sure everybody’s healthy and safe.”
The former Blue Devil has been working out at home, but doesn’t have a hoop to use there, reports King — noting things would be “a lot easier” if he did.
Jayson Tatum: "Everybody wants to be playing, but everybody understands that there's more important things going on. Whatever happens with the season, I'm sure they'll make the right decision in the right interest of making sure everybody's healthy and safe."
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) April 6, 2020
The main obstacle for a player still on his rookie contract who has chosen to only live off endorsement money is that such an arrangement would be “kind of expensive”.
Instead, MassLive’s Tom Westerholm reports Tatum has been using weights, a jump rope and a Peloton exercise bike instead.
He’s occupied a lot of his down time — which, like most of us, has almost certainly grown of late — cleaning his home, doing laundry and rewatching classic NBA games, like the 2010 Finals between Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers, per King.
Jayson Tatum said he’s done a lot of “cleaning up” and “doing laundry” with his free time. He also rewatched the 2010 NBA Finals Game 7 between the Celtics and Lakers.
Said he looks at it differently now with Kobe gone and Tatum’s understanding of NBA ball now so different.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 6, 2020
His friend and former mentee Kobe Bryant’s passing put the series in a new light, as does his much more expansive knowledge of the game.
In related news, the first-time All-Star has organized a food drive in Boston and St. Louis with friend and Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal to help local families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic — for more on that news, click here.
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