On Tuesday, the 24-year-old NBA forward celebrated his son Jayson “Deuce” Christopher’s fifth birthday on Instagram with a photo carousel.
The happy father captioned the photo, “Deuce Day!!” “Happy 5th birthday to my best friend in the world🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽Love you kid ❤️.”
Deuce, Tatum’s son, was born when he was 19 and has since become a major star for the Celtics and other NBA players. Deuce is shared by Tatum and his ex-girlfriend Toriah Lachell.
The NBA star, who had Deuce in December 2017 just six months after he was drafted by the Celtics, spoke about being a role model as a dad and his close bond with his son in a press conference in June.
“I think 2017 when I got drafted, I didn’t have Deuce, but he was born in 2017 so that was big, that was the biggest year of my life, right? Starting this new chapter in my career, I just had a child,” Tatum explained.
My mindset was not to sacrifice either, that I was going to be the best father as I could as well as the best basketball player,” he continued. “There was no guideline or there was no exact way to do it. It was all about what was natural.
“I just do what’s natural. I’m around him every day. I think being able to go through this journey together, because I was 19 when I got drafted, it’s kind of like we’re growing up together,” Tatum continued. “As he’s gotten older, I’m going through my career, sharing these moments, experiencing this together as we grow up. I think it’s the coolest part for me.
The athlete said he is also aware of his platform as a professional athlete and thinks it’s “great” if he’s a role model to other young fathers across the globe.
“I think we need more role models like that. Just to have more male fathers be present and things like that, show that you can do both, regardless of whenever you work, whatever your profession is,” he said.
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