Jayson Tatum’s mom always encouraged him to follow his dreams: “When Mom found out that all I wanted to do was to play ball, she started to demand that I work just as hard in school.
Suddenly there were new house rules. If my grades weren’t where she wanted them to be, then no basketball tournaments on the weekend.


One day, she came home from a parent-teacher conference with my report card. She pointed at the two Cs I’d gotten.

She sat me down and delivered one of those talks — one of those long mom talks. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.

When my basketball tournament rolled around that weekend, she didn’t mess around. She actually sat me out. No mercy. It was an eye-opener. I never underestimated my mom again. It only took one time.


From then on, we became a team just like we had been when she was taking me to school. At that time, she had been doing whatever she could — working two jobs, picking up side jobs, cleaning people’s houses, getting her schoolwork done, on top of all her duties as my mom. Even when she got her degree, her hard work never ceased, so I needed to step up, too.
Whatever I was doing off the court, she said, was just as important as the numbers I was putting up on it.

When I was in elementary school, my teachers would go around the classroom asking kids what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of my classmates would say something about how they wanted to be doctors or lawyers or teachers. I would always say, ‘I want to be a professional basketball player.’ Usually, the teacher would just smile and say, ‘That’s inspiring, but think of something more realistic.’


Then I’d tell those student-athletes what my mom told me.
‘Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be. No matter what.’

‘I’m just like you,’ I would say.’ ‘I’m from these blocks, I played in these rec leagues. My family has had its struggles the same way yours do. There’s no special secret. Just work hard and push yourself. (And if you’re lucky, you’ll have a mom who will push you even harder.)’”