Jayson Tatum recently joined Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner on the ‘Point Forward Podcast‘, where he was asked several different questions about his life. One of the most interesting questions Iguodala asked the Celtics star was a question about the unseen side of being the face of an NBA franchise. Speaking on the topic, Tatum delved into the kind of pressure he has to deal with.
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“It’s tough. Not even going to sugarcoat it. Because there is nothing to prepare you for it. Because there is only so many guys that been in that position that you are in or trying to be in. And everybody gotta deal with it their own way, and mentally, it can be a lot.”
Further, the Celtics star talked about how fans come into the arena to watch him be ‘Superman’ night in and night out, no matter what he may be going through in his personal life.
“Every single night, there is 20,000 people that came to see you be Superman. Right? They don’t know what you deal with at home, family problems, dealing with somebody back in Saint Louis, something wrong with dude, whatever. It’s like, ‘No, I’ve seen you do this before, I wanna come see you do this tonight. And like, I don’t care what else you’ve got going on, like be that person we wanna see'”
This is the side of being a franchise player that most fans and even analysts tend to miss. To add to this, Tatum is the franchise player for Boston’s franchise, a city notorious for having the brashest fans in the United States. So, considering how much he has had to take on from a very young age, Tatum deserves all the credit in the world for handling everything as well as he has.
Andre Iguodala commended Jayson Tatum
Being former NBA players themselves, Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner can likely understand where Jayson Tatum is coming from. Especially considering the fact that Tatum once had the most endorsement deals out of anyone in the NBA, he has had to maintain himself at a high level. Commending that fact Iguodala said the following
“He has been hanging with Michael Jordan a lot. You are so well-versed with your answers. I actually like it. It’s beautiful. It makes the job like the one I have currently, it makes my job really easy, so thank you,”
A much-deserved compliment for the Boston Celtics star. Hopefully, an acknowledgment of his pressure and how well he is handling it, as a peer help make him feel a bit lighter.
