NBA dads say league tries to separate fathers from sons, erase their role; Jayson Tatum’s dad pushes back against the “single mom” narrative [VIDEO]
Justin Tatum, LaVar Ball, and Dwyane Wade Sr. Discuss ‘Dark Side’ of NBA Success on Podcast
Justin Tatum sat beside his son at the 2017 NBA Draft while cameras focused on his ex. The media interviewed her. They asked him nothing. Nearly a decade later, he finally said something about it.
Tatum, the father of Celtics star Jayson Tatum, joined LaVar Ball and Dwyane Wade Sr. on the Ultimate Dads Unplugged podcast to discuss what they described as the league’s systematic effort to separate fathers from their sons. The 59-second clip, posted on X by @CulturedUpdatez, has reached over 1.28 million views and gained agreement from viewers who saw the comments as confirmation of a long-suspected pattern.
A Draft Night Snub That Still Stings
The conversation opens with Dwyane Wade Sr. setting the tone. “The NBA, they try to act like they’re the fathers,” he says. “I saw dads crying because of that situation.” His words land with the weight of someone who watched the league eclipse his role in his son’s life.
LaVar Ball then poses the central question: “How do each one of you guys feel about the way they want to divide you guys from your son when you get to that success?” The phrasing is deliberate. He doesn’t ask if it happens. He asks how they feel about it happening.
Justin Tatum responds with a specific memory. He describes the 2017 NBA Draft, when Jayson was selected third overall by the Boston Celtics. His ex was interviewed on camera. He sat right next to her, and no one asked him a single question. “We know what it took for us to get our kids there,” he says. “And if stuff like that is going to break me, then I don’t need to be around.”
The Pattern They’ve Witnessed
Wade Sr. expands on the experience. “I had a hard time when my son first went to the league with them trying to separate the players from the dads or the families,” he says. His strategy: sit back, let them mature, and trust that things will work out. It’s not defiance. It’s adaptation.
LaVar Ball closes the exchange by referencing a broader pattern. “If you look at any of these superstars, who has been given, from D-Rose not talking to his parents to Kobe not being able to talk to his parents,” he says. “So you’re going to go through that. There’s nothing you can just dodge.” The implication is clear: parental separation is an occupational hazard of superstardom.
The fathers’ collective testimony paints a picture of a league that markets the single-mother narrative while sidelining the fathers who helped build the players. The draft-night interview snub Tatum described is not an isolated oversight. It is a symptom of a system that picks and chooses which family stories to tell.
Coaching His Son to NBA Stardom
Justin Tatum was not an absent father. He was a college basketball player when Jayson was born. After college, he played professionally overseas and returned when his son was seven, nearly eight. Then, he became head coach at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis and coached his son. Tatum, Sr. said he was harder on Jayson than on any other player, making him cry during practices, and pushing him relentlessly.
Jayson has credited that pressure with making him who he is. The two maintain a close relationship today. Justin has coached professionally in Australia and has adjusted his career around major moments in his son’s life.
None of that appeared on the draft broadcast. What appeared was the mother. The narrative of the single mother overcoming odds. The story the league wanted to tell.
X Agreed with Tatum, Sr.’s Assessment
Reactions leaned toward agreement with the fathers’ observations, with many users characterizing the described treatment as a deliberate or systemic preference for single-mother narratives that erases or minimizes Black fathers’ contributions.
One user wrote: “The NBA makes billions off Black men, then deliberately erases the Black fathers who built them.” The post framed the draft-table interview decision as intentional and linked it to broader institutional narratives that sustain myths of absent Black fathers across courts, media, and policy. Another user from the St. Louis area noted local knowledge that Justin Tatum had long been present and involved, rejecting any implication of absence: “Justin Tatum has always been there. Anybody from St. Louis knows that.”
Several replies and quote posts noted that Jayson Tatum himself has frequently centered his mother in interviews, essays, and branding, with some arguing that this contributes to the public perception and that responsibility is shared. One user observed that the player’s own branding choices shape the narrative just as much as the league’s coverage does.
Some users cited examples of other stars whose fathers receive varying degrees of visibility, comparing situations across the league. Coverage amplification came from accounts sharing links to articles summarizing the comments, further extending reach. A minority of responses questioned the framing, suggesting personal relationship complexities as explanatory factors, but the dominant visible sentiment supported the fathers’ accounts of exclusion and treated the clip as revealing an under-discussed aspect of NBA family dynamics.
One user pointed out that multiple high-profile players had involved fathers who were nonetheless under-featured, criticizing media and league framing as production choices rather than accidents. Others affirmed that the private father-son relationships remained intact despite public omissions.
The Erasure of Black Fathers
The clip has tapped into a broader conversation about how Black fathers are portrayed in media and sports. The stereotype of the absent Black father persists despite data showing involvement rates that often match or exceed those of other racial groups. When the NBA and its media partners repeatedly center the mother in origin stories while excluding the father, they reinforce that stereotype.
The fathers on the podcast are not denying the mothers’ contributions. They are asking for their own contributions to be acknowledged. Tatum does not say his son’s mother wasn’t there. He says he was there too, and no one asked.
The clip’s rapid circulation and the volume of supportive commentary suggest that many people recognize the pattern. The 1.28 million views and 14,600 likes are not just about these specific fathers. They reflect a broader frustration with how Black fathers are depicted in mainstream narratives.
What Comes Next
The conversation does not change the past. It does, however, offer a record of what the fathers experienced and how they processed it. Tatum’s quiet statement—that he knows his son cares and loves him, and that’s enough—is not a complaint. It is a boundary.
The NBA will continue to tell stories. The media will continue to choose which images to amplify. But the fathers on this podcast have added their voices to the record, and that record is now publicly available. The clip may be 59 seconds. The pattern it reveals is decades old.
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