Log in to the NBA? Beyond Kobe? The goal he set at the age of 11 is slowly realizing now

When he was in the fourth grade, he shouted in his class for the first time that his goal was to "log in the NBA", there was no applause or encouragement around him, but ridicule and ridicule. The teacher covered his mouth with one hand to avoid excessive laughter, and patted his shoulder with the other hand, as if saying "that's too unrealistic". This scene was deeply engraved in the boy's mind. He returned home and hugged his mother and cried bitterly, telling everything that happened in the classroom.

"Do you really want to play basketball?" asked my mother.

"Yes, I want to enter the NBA and become a star like Kobe."

"I think your goal should not be who you are, but who you are beyond."

's mother's words are simple and powerful. Since then, they have begun to strive for this goal. In the draft a few years later, he was stepping into the NBA stage as a Tanhua Show. As for surpassing Kobe, it is indeed very far away, but as far as he is concerned, he has indeed embarked on the road to catching up with his idols. Many people may have guessed that, yes, he is Jason Tatum.

Jason Tatum's basketball story begins in a sun-soled street in St. Louis, Missouri, and also in the back of a 19-year-old girl walking through an empty corridor with a crying baby in her late night. Basketball is not only a gift of talent, but also a driftwood that goes upstream.

In Tatum's world, the weight of "home" is almost entirely pressing on the thin shoulders of his mother Brandi Cole. When she was pregnant and had a child at the age of 19, she was still a college student. On the night when she couldn't pay the rent and was evicted by her landlord, she held the young Tatum on the steps, and the street lights pulled their shadows very long. But she never bowed: "Social welfare can be received, but I want to raise my children with both hands." Brandy's daytime belongs to classrooms and work, and nighttime belongs to diapers and exercises. Tatum often curled up in the back corner of the classroom, watching his mother take notes while patting his back. After thirteen years of persistence, she obtained three degrees in linguistics, politics and law, and eventually became a lawyer.

The name of his father Justin Tatum only existed in videotapes in his childhood - it was the figure of a college basketball star in the 1980s, a man who went to Europe to pursue his unfulfilled dream. The blood ties became thinner in absence, and it was not until Justin retired and returned to work as a high school coach that he took Tatum's hand again. On the training ground, my father is as strict as a knife; in life, the sense of alienation is like a shadow.

On Father's Day many years later, Tatum posted a photo of his childhood on social media: "Love you, Dad." Blood ties finally sewed the crack, and his father's unfinished NBA dream has turned into a spark on his shoulders.

The reason why Tatum is despised is mainly because he has been thin since childhood, like a reed, looking weak, but in the basketball court, his body is only one aspect. Tatum's skills and footsteps are far superior to his peers. On the wild court, those adults and strong men couldn't even find a chance to start, and could not keep up with Tatum's rhythm at all, crossed steps, stopped urgently, leaned back - the basketball drew an arc and entered the net.

Since the age of 14, Tatum's fame has spread throughout the United States and has been recruited into the U.S. men's basketball echelon many times to help the team win multiple world championships. In his fourth year of high school, he turned into the Black Lightning of the Chaminard Preparatory Academy, averaging 29 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. The McDonald's All-American trophy illuminated the basketball desert in St. Louis for the first time.

In the 2016 Duke University locker room, old coach K slammed the tactical board: "Jason, your talent is in the penalty area, but your heart is outside the three-point line!" Tatum lowered his head and rubbed the Blue Devils logo on the jersey - this year, he averaged 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, and in the last six games, averaging "10 points + 5 rebounds + 3 assists + 2 breaks + 2 blocks", setting a new record for Duke's freshman. The scout report was full of praise, but he stared at the phone, Kobe's highlights and had insomnia all night.

Kobe and the Lakers, one is Tatum's idol and the other is his home team. Being able to play for the Purple and Gold Army is also one of his dreams, but all signs show that Los Angeles may not be willing to choose him with the second pick, which makes Tatum very sad. On the eve of the draft, just when Tatum was still fantasizing about joining the Lakers, the old coach K on the other end of the phone was determined: "Go to Boston to try out, that's your kingdom." He held the Lakers hat tightly, his fingers were pinched to the point of white, and his face was full of reluctance.

"Celtics choose Jason Tatum in the third pick". The green ocean of North Shore Garden Arena swallowed up his purple gold dream, and fate also turned rapidly here.

The opening game in 2017, the Cavaliers' home court, 19-year-old Tatum broke through and flew into the air, and smashed the ball into the basket through LeBron James! When he landed, he beat his chest and roared, and behind him was the dead silence of 20,000 people. That night, he scored 14 points and 10 rebounds, becoming the first Celtics' first double-double rookie after Bird. This game alone made fans with keen sense of smell smell the temperament of a superstar and began to regret the Lakers' "missing".

rookies averaged 13.9 points per game in the annual finals, and tied the seventh place in the Eastern Conference Finals. The young Tatum is even more alone in the Cavaliers' Big Three, young but fierce as a young lion.

In the third year of his career, Tatum has achieved some success and was selected into the All-Star and All-Squad. The Celtics led by him have always maintained their strength to compete for the championship. However, due to lack of experience, the young Celtics failed at a critical moment. Finally, in 2024, they defeated strong enemies and finally won the O'Brien Cup. That summer, Tatum also received a big gift. The largest contract in NBA history was $314 million for 5 years, undisputedly becoming one of the best players in the active league.

However, fate always casts a shadow at its peak - the left Achilles tendon torn in the 2025 playoffs, like a heavy hammer that suddenly smashes glaze. On the operating table, he remembered the ridicule in the fourth grade classroom, and the warmth of his mother clenching his hands..

In the rehabilitation room, his two-year-old son Drus swayed and handed the basketball in: "Dad, shoot!" He remembered the panic when he was a father at the age of 19, but now he saw his eyes on this little face. The poor boy who was ridiculed for being "unrealistic" back then had already saved all his NBA salary and lived on endorsement fees: "Things in the world are unpredictable, I have to be responsible for the future."

Every time I stepped on the court, Tatum would always look up at the audience. Grandma sat there, smiling and pinching her earlobe. He raised his hand to respond to the code - just like his mother was pinching his ears in a rental house twenty years ago to coax her to sleep. At this moment, the broken Achilles tendon, the dead idol, and the ridicule of childhood all retreated into the background.

The sound of basketball hitting the ground sounded like a tree growing from a crack in the concrete, the tears of a single mother in the rings, the curse of a man on the wild court, the tactical handwriting of Duke's locker room, the tattoo of Kobe's disciples, and the scars of the Achilles tendon stitching. And in the next round, he is always ready to break the wall.