With Jayson Tatum’s hefty Celtics contract, one could wonder what he does with his NBA salary. However, his mom, Brandy Cole, knows firsthand.
Mom in charge During an interview with journalist Graham Bessinger, Tatum revealed his budgeting habits are credited to Cole, who is in charge of managing his finances.
“My mom is like the overseer, right? Everything goes through her,” Tatum said in the interview.
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To consider his best interest, his mother made a deal with Tatum that ensured he would live off endorsements rather than his earnings as a Celtics player.
According to Spotrac, Tatum has a $163,000,300 contract with the Boston Celtics.
Considering Tatum currently has endorsement deals with the Jordan Brand, Gatorade, Subway, and NBA 2K, it’s safe to say he is still fairing pretty well.
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“We had a deal before I got drafted that I couldn’t spend the money I make from the Celtics, that I have to live off my endorsements,” Tatum told Bessinger. “Her and my accountant agreed. They didn’t know that I’d make as much as I did off the court. So in my mind, I gotta spend that money.”
Tatum is certainly enjoying the fruits of his labor. He once spent $12,000 during a night out with friends and often splurges on watches, which always catches the attention of his mother, who investigates all his transactions.
Cole on Tatum’s spending habits: “Jason likes nice things. He likes nice watches. Technically, I can’t say no right? But, I’m the one that processes all the wires and gets receipts and then ensures everything and stuff like that. So he’s always coming. I can tell on his face when he walks in my office that there’s about to be a wire. It’s just this expression on his face and I know exactly what it means that I need to send someone some money. He’s already picked something out. And when he tells me sometime the price, I’m like, What does this watch do? And he’s like, ‘But it’s not the Celtic money.’ And that’s his little running joke,” Cole explained.
Together, the mother-son duo is learning the various avenues of business. Growing up, they never had an extra $100 to put away, which plays a role in how they approach finances today.
“I think we just have a different level of appreciation,” Cole said. “In some ways it hindered because there’s things that are very new to us now, even from like investing or, you know, different levels of assets and never had that, you know, I’ve never even had an extra a hundred dollars a month to put away an investments or savings. So, in some ways, we had to learn a lot. But I think, for the most part, just we’re not that far removed from living check to check and he knows what he never wants to go back to.”
