{"id":130225,"date":"2025-03-23T12:28:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T16:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=130225"},"modified":"2025-03-23T12:28:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T16:28:44","slug":"jayson-tatum-justin-tatum-nba-coach-nbl-finals-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/23\/jayson-tatum-justin-tatum-nba-coach-nbl-finals-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Celtics Star\u2019s Dad Coach In NBA After NBL Finals Win?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, the Illawarra Hawks defeated Melbourne United in Game 5 of the 2025 NBL Finals. Coached by Justin Tatum<\/a>, the father of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum<\/a>, they\u2019ve now secured their first title since 2001. A former star at Saint Louis University and in the Dutch Basketball League, the elder Tatum is a close friend of former NBA standout Larry Hughes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And-1:<\/strong> After the back-and-forth series, United point guard Matthew Dellavedova<\/a>, was named the NBL Finals MVP. A nine-year NBA veteran, Dellavedova rose to fame during his tenure with the LeBron James<\/a>-led Cleveland Cavaliers, with whom he won a championship. Hughes and James were teammates from 2005-06 to 2007-08.<\/em><\/p>\n

Will Justin Tatum Coach In NBA After NBL Finals Win?<\/h2>\n

The Tatum family isn\u2019t Illawarra\u2019s only connection to the United States.<\/p>\n

The Hawks became popular stateside after Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball<\/a> chose to bypass college, eventually heading Down Under<\/a>. In 12 games, the Ball family\u2019s best baller put up 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.6 steals per contest. However the team as a whole wasn\u2019t good, going 5-23 in 2019-20.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 2024-25 and the difference is night and day. Some of it is simply that their roster has been healthy for the most part. Much of that has to do with the elder Tatum, who now has a regular season record of 32-16 since taking over for former head coach Jacob Jackomas.<\/p>\n

Initially, he joined Illawarra as a North American scout and special advisor in 2023. His connection with Hawks owner Jared Novelly, a St. Louis native himself, may have contributed to the hiring. He\u2019s won three state championships<\/a> as a high school head coach. However, the highlight of his coaching career was arguably the role he played in his son\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Still, his first foray into coaching at the professional level was more about facilitating the messages between Jackomas and the team\u2019s American imports. After the Hawks relieved Jackomas of his duties, Tatum\u2019s playing and coaching experience stood out more. He was promoted to the first chair, learning the ins and outs of the league on the fly.<\/p>\n

What About The Celtics?<\/h3>\n

All Tatum has done since being named Illawarra\u2019s head coach is enhance the offense and fortify the defense. Oh, he\u2019s won a championship too. For someone that\u2019s eyeing an NBA coaching gig, he\u2019s likely on the right path.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NBL is a place where I\u2019ve put my stamp on, but at the end of the day I have aspirations of wanting to get on an NBA level<\/a> to see how far I can push myself as a coach,\u201d Tatum tells Newscorp (h\/t NBL.com).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just finished up my first season of a three-year contract, so we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether Tatum\u2019s contract has a clause that would allow him to leave the NBL if he\u2019s offered a role within the NBA. However, it\u2019s not uncommon for coaches to switch leagues or levels, especially in-between seasons.<\/p>\n

If Tatum does make that jump, the Celtics will be considered as a potential suitor just based on the family ties. Given his connection to Hughes, whose best years came with the Washington Wizards, there could be interest there. The Dallas Mavericks will have to find a replacement for Alex Jensen, who is now the Utah Utes head coach.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not even diving into the teams that could look to replace their current head coach.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, the Illawarra Hawks defeated Melbourne United in Game 5 of the 2025 NBL Finals. Coached by Justin Tatum, the father of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, they\u2019ve now secured their first title since 2001. A former star at Saint Louis University and in the Dutch Basketball League, the elder Tatum is a close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":130236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1608,5,9,30,62,3,18],"tags":[798,50025,1950,411,1000],"class_list":["post-130225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-basketball","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-cavaliers","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-news","category-wizards","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-justin-tatum","tag-larry-hughes","tag-matthew-dellavedova","tag-nbl"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130225"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130237,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130225\/revisions\/130237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}