Jayson Tatum, like a lot of Gen Zers, is big on manifesting. “When I was a kid, I always dreamed really big,” the Boston Celtics star forward tells me. “I wanted to be the best player in the world. I wanted my own shoe. I wanted championships. I would try and speak it into existence. And like, I really believed it. I didn’t hope for it. I believed it would happen.” One of those childhood dreams, he recalls, took shape as he flipped through magazines in his dentist’s waiting room. “I’d see these GQ magazines and they’d have all my favorite athletes and movie stars and I thought, ‘Oh, this is the pinnacle. If you’re in here, this is how you know you’re big time.’”
Of course, Tatum—the man that NBA Twitter calls The Anomaly—was big time long before this GQ interview. Now in his eighth NBA season, the 27-year-old is a six-time All-Star, a three-time All-NBA first team selection, and, as of last June, a one-time NBA champion. Since entering the league in the 2017-18 season, the rangy 6-foot-8 forward’s Celtics have never missed the playoffs—a feat that none of Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, or Kawhi Leonard can lay claim to in that stretch—and they’re currently in the hunt for a second consecutive title, matched up in the first round with the upstart Orlando Magic. “It doesn’t matter who you play,” Tatum says. “Winning in the NBA is hard.”
When I reach Tatum via Zoom, he’s only a few days out from the playoffs. If he’s feeling any serious pressure to repeat, however, it doesn’t show—he’s loose and easy in conversation. Maybe it’s simply because right now, so much seems to be going Tatum’s way. On top of another dominant season—with the Celtics cruising to a 61-21 record, good enough for second in the Eastern Conference—he’s now the face of Coach’s latest cologne, Eau de Parfum for Men.
Tatum has been a Coach ambassador since last summer. The label, he says, fits his personality. “It’s not really a look-at-me brand,” he says, “Like, I’ve always been laid back, yeah? But I enjoy nicer things.” His personal history with the brand stretches all the way back to his childhood, when he received a Coach money clip for his 10th birthday. “I knew then that my parents and grandparents, they all had wallets,” he recalls. “So I remember getting this money clip, and even at that age, it made me [feel] closer to [being] an adult.”
When Tatum gets dressed, it’s always sensible and composed—beyond the occasional pastel-splashed Richard Mille watch. He looks good and stylish, but not in a way that feels desperate to attract @LeagueFits attention. “I’m always just trying to feel comfortable,” he says. “I’ve always found a lot of importance in how I present myself—of how to dress, of making sure you get your hair cut. I used to think about these things all the time in elementary school, in middle school, in high school.”