Jayson Tatum reveals he wanted Suns to draft him in new interview

Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum shared how he nearly backed out of the workout that sold Danny Ainge on drafting him and more in a new interview.

Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum appeared on the popular podcast “All the Smoke” Monday, and gave a wide-ranging interview to former NBAers-turned-podcast-hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

As one might imagine, life in pandemic was a necessary prelude, but the trio spent little time speaking on quotidian issues early.

Salient points by now quite familiar to Celtics fans were addressed, from working out at home to getting a hoop to shoot on to waiting for test results were discussed as they have been several times now.

But soon things got interesting.

Barnes revealed the extent of Tatum and childhood friend and Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal’s food drive for Boston and St. Louis, Missouri — Beal and Tatum’s hometown — which raised nearly $300,000 to help feed locals struggling through the pandemic.

“I was sitting here with my mom, we was thinking of a way that we could help and give back to where I’m from,” began the Missourian forward.

“And, you know, for me, that’s all I’m always thinking about what can I do for the people back home in St. Louis, because — for those that don’t know, St. Louis, it’s not like any other one of those big cities, a lot of people from St. Louis, we don’t come from much, we don’t have a lot and growing up, we all kind of grew up in the same area.”

So, Brad [Beal] is another person that really helps and gives back to St. Louis, and he’s like my big brother,” Tatum added.

Beal was very much on board, ready to help the local population struggling to make ends meet as they are in much of the U.S. these days.

On the topic of the 2020 Naismith Hall of Fame class including Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Tamika Catchings, the Duke product related it to “The Last Dance” — perhaps unsurprising given the ubiquity of the ESPN documentary in basketball culture at the moment.

“For me, especially watching this [Michael] Jordan documentary and hearing people like around you guys age and older, how my dad talked about Jordan really made me realize … that was Kobe for me. Kobe was my Jordan and he was the reason I started playing basketball.”

I had all the jerseys, all the shoes I wanted to be just like him so, Kobe was Jordan for me,” he finished.

Tatum’s father Justin was evidently more a fan of another member of this year’s Hall of Fame class, though.

“Kevin Garnett was my dad’s favorite player. So I remember anytime anytime the Celtics played the Suns and him and Mr. Stoudamire matched up, my pops would call me like. ‘Yo, turn on TV — there’s two animals playing against each other.”

Tatum also discussed becoming a Jordan Brand player, which his agent arranged in 2019. After the details were settled, there was a Jordan Brand group trip to France, and Tatum described getting to know the man himself at a dinner.

They had exchanged words briefly earlier in the day at media events, but didn’t really have a chance to talk much.

In the evening, however, Jordan Brand athletes convened for a dinner in a more conversational environment, and Tatum related how he made an impression on the basketball legend.

“Melo [Anthony] was there. Blake [Griffin] was there. Russ [Westbrook], Spike Lee … everybody was there,” he related. “So … I’m still nervous, right?”

“I walk in, and MJ is sitting down, his wife [was] next to him and Spike next to her. So I walk in, and I was going go say what’s up before I sit down … Then, I walk over to him and like my hands are sweating. And I was like, ‘What’s up, Mike?’; when I went to go shake his hand, I knocked over his wine glass on the table and it broke.”

Tatum is not, of course, the first person to get nerves upon meeting the NBA icon, and probably is far from being the last. But the revelation drew chuckles from Barnes and Jackson just the same.

Discussion shifted to the Duke product’s college days under coach Mike Krzyzewski, touching on everything from the Cameron Crazies camping out for weeks just to get home tickets to home games to Tatum’s feelings about recent NCAA debates on allowing students to profit off of their likenesses.

“I think you should be able to make money off your likeness,” offered the St. Louis native.

“If I was at Duke and I want to say ‘Hey, I want to host the autograph session on Saturday for three hours and $50-25 a signature, I feel like you should be able to do that,” he added.

It might surprise Boston fans to hear that during the draft process, the former Blue Devil was sold on living in Arizona after thinking he’d be drafted by the Phoenix Suns, and had to be coaxed by coach K to make it to a workout with the Celtics, though.

Noting it was mostly a foregone conclusion that guard Markelle Fultz would go No. 1 overall, Tatum also didn’t bother working out with the Los Angeles Lakers, with that franchise making it clear they planned to draft point guard Lonzo Ball.

But after meeting coach Earl Watson and touring the greater Phoenix area, he fell hard for the city and had already started thinking about getting a home there with his mother.

Afterwards, Tatum returned home to St. Louis briefly before heading to New York for the draft, and his agent called, saying “Danny Ainge called and said they’re gonna trade their pick,” according to Tatum. “They’re going to go to three and they want you to come to Boston in the next day to work out.”

“I’m like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to go to Boston — I like it out here in Phoenix; it’s cool. The weather’s nice. I get a big house. I get a pool … he’s like ‘Brad Stevens is a great young coach, and they’ve got a great history,'” he said.

“I’m like, ‘I’m not trying to hear it. I want to go to Phoenix.’ My agent’s like,  ‘Just think about it.’ And then, we hang up. I’m like, I’m not going to this workout. Like, I’m cool. Then, Coach K called me right after my agent did. He’s like ‘Jayson, the Celtics called; they want you to come work out. I think Brad Stevens is a great coach and it’s a great place to be. You’ll learn a lot.'”

“So, I go,” he added.

Tatum would workout with the Celtics, and Ainge and the rest of the office became convinced he was their guy as a result. They took the Duke product with the third overall pick of course, and the rest is history.

“When I finally heard my name called, it was by far the best day of my life, because this is what I’ve been working for for 16 years,” he explained.

“But [there] was a part of me that didn’t really want to go to Boston, because they just was the number one team in the East. They had Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, [Marcus] Smart, [Jaylen Brown], Jae Crowder. I was like, ´’I’m not going to play — I’m trying to get buckets.”

How does he feel about that now, though?

“Everything worked out,” he said with a laugh.

The interview is over an hour long, and full of far too many gems to list here; listen for yourself in the episode embedded above, or subscribe via however you usually listen to podcasts — for Celtics fans, this episode is a must-listen.

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