Jayson Tatum knows his mom, Brandy Cole, is always in his corner.
On the morning of his second game back this season after recovering from an Achilles tear, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum received a text from his mom.
Brandy Cole informed him she would attend Boston’s game in Cleveland.
“As happy as I am to be back, she’s just as happy, and oftentimes I looked up and saw her in the crowd and she was just crying,” Tatum said on March 8.
They were tears of joy, tears of relief – the emotion of seeing Tatum back on the court after missing nearly the entire season overwhelmed her.
She wanted to be there for her son.
“I just wanted to make sure that he always had some place to look because people don’t realize that the mental part of coming back is just as difficult as the physical,” Cole said. “As much as he wanted to be back on the floor and as hard as he worked to get back there and as disciplined as he was, it was still probably very scary for him in the beginning to be out there.
“I just wanted him to have a place to look if he needed to just calm down, if he needed reassurance, if he struggled, because I would tell him all the time, ‘Listen, you couldn’t walk nine months ago. If you struggle in this game, it’s fine. Who cares what everybody says? We know everybody expects you to come back and be MVP, All-NBA Jayson Tatum right away. It’s not going to happen.’”
Tatum had a remarkable return, coming back from the Achilles injury in less than 10 months before a knee injury ended his season in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers who advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals. In 16 regular-season games and six playoff games this season, Tatum averaged 22.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shot 42.8% from the field.
Many players who sustained that injury when Tatum did – in the conference semifinals – miss all of the ensuing season.
But Tatum was on a mission to play games this season, and he did.
Tatum is often playing at this time of year, but that won’t make Mother’s Day any less special for Cole.
“Mother’s Day is my favorite day of the year. Not my birthday,” Cole said. “I’ve just enjoyed being a mom. I’ve loved everything about it. I was young, and we grew up together. I love our relationship and just how close we are and how connected we still are. I’m just really blessed. It’s always been the thing I was most proud of is being a mom.”
She was 19 when Tatum was born, and while being a single mom wasn’t without struggles, she is quick to point out that she knows others who have had more difficult experiences.
“I was on this elite academic trajectory and everybody kind of counted me out, and people had their opinions of what I should do and how I shouldn’t risk my future,” Cole said. “From the moment I saw him, I was just obsessed, and he just changed my life.
“It’s been my most important role, my most rewarding, my most challenging. Even through law school, I had professors tell me I wouldn’t be successful because it wasn’t my first priority. And I was like, ‘You’re right.’”
After having surgery on his ruptured Achilles, Jayson Tatum will face both mental and physical hurdles during the recovery process.
The Achilles tear was Tatum’s first major injury, and it’s a difficult recovery process. The steps, literally and figuratively, are small and painstaking, and progress is not measured easily. Cole witnessed the work Tatum put in so he could return this season. That wasn’t easy either especially when she saw him on the bench not in uniform.
“Having to watch him not be able to do what he loves to do, that broke my heart,” she said. “I’m a fixer, but there was nothing I could do about that.”
But she never doubted the kind of player he would be when he returned.
“It never crossed my mind that he wouldn’t be able to go through the rehab and come back and be himself again because I’ve had the privilege of being able to watch him his whole life,” Cole said. “His work ethic is crazy. It’s unmatched. He attributes that to me sometimes, but I tell him I’m in awe of him.”
She has passed her love of parenting to Tatum, who often brings his son Deuce to Celtics games.
“He knew he was going to be the best dad and the best basketball player he could be,” Cole said. “He wasn’t going to make Deuce sacrifice so that he could pursue his dreams. He was going to find a way to make it all possible, and he’s done that and no one had to force him to do it.
“People know about him publicly and they know what a great basketball player he is, and he’s a future Hall of Famer. He’s literally an even better dad. And I know it’s really hard for people to comprehend how that’s possible, but it’s true.”
There’s a video clip where Tatum is shown a photo of himself and his mom from 20-plus years ago, and he is asked, “What’s one thing you would say to this kid and his mom?”
Tatum replies: “One day, it’s all going to be worth it.”
Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
