Jayson Tatum has proven to be one of the faces of the NBA over the last few seasons with the Boston Celtics. It is hard to believe that he's already been in the league for six seasons now, but Tatum is a proven veteran who is still growing into one of the best talents of his generation. This is why he is well-respected and why he is on the verge of becoming one of the league's highest paid players.

He not only led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in 2022, but he had them on the doorstep of the Finals again this past season. Basketball fans around the world know his skillset and the next generation of basketball players are already looking up to him as their role model.

Recently talking at a Nike EYBL camp, Tatum discussed his stance on being a role model and why that's one of the reasons he does not believe in the philosophy of “load management.”

“I don't decide, ‘We playing the Hornets tonight, I'm a chill.' I only get to go to Charlotte two times a year. Somebody paid they money to come watch me play,” Tatum firmly stated. “Like, not trying to be arrogant, there's a bunch of kids in there in my shoes and my jersey. Just because we playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain't nobody f*****g watching, I'm like ‘Oh, I'm chilling tonight.' That's not what the great players, the best players do.”

Sitting out games to prepare for the end of the season is something a lot of teams have had their stars do over the last couple of seasons and load management has suddenly become a problem the league has had to deal with. There will always be those with the mentality of wanting to play every game like Tatum, but there are also plenty of stars who will sit out half the season in order to be fully prepared for the playoffs.

As the NBA continues to search for ways to mend this issue at hand, Tatum made his stance very clear and urged those at the basketball camp he was in attendance for to follow in his footsteps.

“Y'all are the future, y'all are next,” Tatum said. “So just keep that in mind. Great player, not great player, big game, not big game, just compete and play basketball. Don't take this s**t for granted.”