“Sports media is tough. When we lose, it’s my fault. It’s hard to explain that or have other guys on the team understand. Like, nobody can prepare you on how to deal with that,” said Jayson Tatum once. It is no secret that the Boston Celtics star often allegedly faces scrutiny from the media, even though storylines that many might call ‘far-fetched’. For example, during last year’s playoffs, Tatum’s ‘smile’ during Jaylen Brown’s Eastern Conference Finals MVP acceptance led ESPN to question whether he was genuinely happy for his teammate. That was just one example. Unfortunately, the Celtics star isn’t the only one who allegedly gets attacked by the media from time to time. Fortunately, the experiences they faced allowed them to learn lessons that Jayson Tatum himself could use in his day-to-day life.
Chicago Bulls star Lonzo Ball recently sat down for an interview with Stephen Curry’s sister, Sydel, and Curry’s god-sister and WNBA star Cameron Brink. During the conversation, the main topic of discussion shifted to the opinions people usually share on others’ injury recovery progress. Cameron Brink had to deal with this issue only last year, back in June, when she sustained a season-ending torn ACL. Lonzo Ball, who has dealt with his fair share of injuries, too, highlighted how “the internet and socials” made things worse, as he couldn’t avoid all the talk and criticism that was going on while he was recovering. In situations like those, the NBA star quickly learned to turn the ear the other way.
“There’s a lot of people that…. I mean, everybody’s entitled to their opinion though, but a lot of people, I feel like say things, especially in the media, that they don’t really know too much about,” said Ball. “But, uh, I try not to let it affect me too much, just because, like I said, I just know what I have to do most of the time, and the outside opinions don’t really like bother me like that. Both Lonzo Ball and Cameron Brink also highlighted the help that the team organization can provide in this regard. After all, if you have a good organization that’s behind you too, and letting you heal, that’s huge”.
If there was one person who needed to hear this advice from Lonzo Ball, it was definitely Jayson Tatum. Especially now, since the Celtics star is currently recovering from an Achilles tendon. The player sustained the injury when less than 3 minutes were remaining in Game 4 of the Celtics-Knicks series. As the 27-year-old was being taken to the locker room, in a wheelchair, footage captured from a camera in the arena’s tunnel showed Tatum with his hands on his face, visibly distraught. Since then, several opinionated and factual reports have been published about the player’s ailment.
From the Washington Post highlighting how Jayson Tatum’s injury “doomed the Celtics”, to everyone from Brad Stevens and Jaylen Brown being hounded about an update, the media has been looking to get ahead and form their opinions about the ailment.
While years of criticism would have taught Tatum how to handle things, anyway, he could surely benefit from listening to Lonzo Ball. After all, he was able to get through one of the harshest periods of his NBA career by keeping all the back-talk about him to the side.
Lonzo Ball ignored all negative speculation about his NBA future amid 3 surgeries
Back on January 14th, 2022, Lonzo Ball played in a matchup between the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors. Little did he know that he wouldn’t play another professional NBA game for 1000+ days after that. After missing three games with a meniscus tear, Ball got surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Chicago said then he’d be back in 6-to-8 weeks. However, Ball missed the rest of the season, and then continued to have pain and discomfort in the knee over the summer, leading to a second surgery, aka an arthroscopic debridement, ahead of the 2022-23 season. Later, in March 2023, Lonzo Ball underwent cartilage transplant surgery on his left knee. 3 surgeries in almost 14 months. All of it was worth it when the player finally returned to the basketball court in October 2024.
“I can’t even really put into words how I felt out there,” said Ball. “I had a goal to get back on the court. I know it was a long journey, a long process, but it all paid off because this was what I was looking forward to. I’m just glad it’s here now. I can finally go out and do what I love to do. There were a lot of people that helped me get here, not just myself. Just to see the crowd and all the love I get from the city, man, you cannot replicate that in any type of way. And it’s real.”
Jan 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball (2) warms up before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
It must have taken a lot of effort for Ball not to give any air to the reports that were going around about him during his recovery period. The Score’s Dan Bernstein had previously claimed that “there has been an expression of guarded optimism regarding a future for Lonzo Ball. And there’s a reason why for you’re pursuant to all kinds of union issues, why they haven’t asked for the salary exemption yet because they don’t want to send the message publicly that they’re done with him. They don’t think it’s likely that he ever plays again.” In other words, the reporter was speculating that the surgeries were making the Bulls ripe to cut ties with their player.
Stephen A. Smith had put out claims about Ball that “I’ve heard that it’s even hard for him to get up from a sitting position.” Ball responded, back then, by sharing a video of himself getting up from a sitting position. He told Smith to “come to the actual source next time.”
Ball learned to let the people who were only speculating to not disturb his peace. With any luck, Jayson Tatum adopts that belief during the off-season.
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