Justin Tatum talks about being NBL25 champions

• Justin Tatum's NBA champion son Jayson sent his Hawks team a message of support before the game.
• Tatum praises injured star centre Sam Froling with his growth and maturity after getting injured.
• The Hawks want to bring their core group back from NBL26.

NBL25 Coach of the Year spent eight minutes in his post game press conference after the Illawarra Hawks claimed their second NBL championship, beating Melbourne United 114-104 in Game 5 of the NBL Final Series at Illawarra on Sunday, March 23, 2025.

QUESTION: How’s it feel?

JUSTIN TATUM: Indescribable feeling, man. Indescribable feeling. I can’t even words — can’t describe. I can probably tell you later if you ask me, but right now, to see the enjoyment of the fans and everybody who is originally from Illawarra, you know, who's been waiting for this for 23-plus years, that excites me more than anything. And just being able to see our team fight through adversity, that’s also an enjoyment. So like, the words are tough to describe right now. But I’m happy.

QUESTION: When was the moment out there when you kind of knew once and for all that the trophy was coming?

JUSTIN TATUM: You guys might see me cheering or jumping up and down around the two-minute mark or something, when we were plus 10, we’re up. Somebody had just made a layup or something and I got really animated. I knew right then and there that we had it. My assistant coach JK tried to tell me, 'Calm down, it's okay, we still got like a minute left'. I’m looking at him like, 'We're up 14. If we lose this, then something’s wrong'. But it was probably about the two-minute mark.

QUESTION: A couple of guys stood up in a big way today. Trey Kell III coming back from that knee and Will Hickey after such a big game in Game 4. Can you just talk about those two guys?

JUSTIN TATUM: Oh man, their passion and just their will to win. I texted Trey this morning, said, 'Hey man, how you feeling? How's the knee?” After workouts yesterday, his first text back was, 'I'm just ready to win the trophy'. Not like “Hey, it’s okay” or 'I think I can push through', it was 'I'm going to win. We going to win. I'm ready to win this trophy'. And Davo is Davo — he knows at the end of the day he’s got a lot on the line. He wears his passion on his heart, on his sleeve. So you know what you're going to get out of him. Just the reassurance from those guys — as a coach, going into today — felt pretty good.

REPORTER: When you took over this club like 18–10 months ago — 2–7 start, coach had just been sacked — did you think it could happen this quickly?‍

JUSTIN TATUM: I mean, anybody will say yes or no. But I knew I had talent with this group. I knew I had a great group of guys. So I knew something positive was going to happen. Was it being in the Grand Finals within 18 months? I don’t know. But I knew I was ready to coach a great group of guys who had a ton of skill and wanted to play for each other.

REPORTER: How much does that win do for Sam (Froling), obviously devastating for him not to be able to fight?

JUSTIN TATUM: 98, 99.999%, you know. And the other decimal is probably for the fans. Because Sam helped us get all the way there. When a teammate helps you get that far, and then unforeseen circumstances happen like they did … but he still believed — he was in the huddle, telling guys to finish, yelling at guys, getting after them: 'We got two more minutes. Don’t let up.' That passion from your leader — that’s probably the most I’ve ever heard that man talk that loud and with that much passion.
We know that majority of this was for Sam. One guy helped us get here, and unfortunately couldn’t play. But a lot of what we did tonight, we played that for Sam.

REPORTER: It would be easy, I guess, in his position to curl up in a ball and maybe fade a little. But what does it say about him that he got behind the team and stayed in it?

JUSTIN TATUM: The growth of him. The professionalism. The opportunity — knowing that this might not come back around again in your playoff career. It could. It couldn’t. Just to see him live for the moment speaks volumes — not just about Sam, but anybody in that position. But it just happened to be our captain. To see him grow as a young man, in the position where it hurts the most to not be able to play… that was probably the best feeling to see. And for him too. I can't even imagine how dominant he’s going to try to be when he comes back next year. And I’m ready to see it.

REPORTER: Next year probably feels like a long way away now, but is the goal to keep the core of this roster together?

JUSTIN TATUM: Yeah. Why not? We’ve been talking as admin and as a staff, that’s what we want. But you always gotta have Plan B, C. At the end of the day, Plan A is for this group to reunite. To do our best to keep the core and everybody together. These guys love each other outside of basketball. That’s so important. Otherwise we would not have won anything. Those guys believe and trust each other — outside of basketball.

REPORTER:
How satisfying is it, knowing a lot of people say 'keep the same roster together,' and you actually did? You said they had your back. You were thrown into a foreign environment, but you stuck with the group.

JUSTIN TATUM:
Yeah, I grew professionally as a coach with these guys. This is my first 10, I was a rookie coming in. I mean, you could still say I’m a rookie — this is my first year coaching here. But I grew. I came in as a professional with those guys. And for them to believe in my thoughts, my plan for this group — on the fly, unexpectedly — and for us to create and build together, that’s special. I told them before the game, 'I’ve got my internal family that I left at home for eight months, but this is my external family'. They took care of me. They’ve done everything day in and day out that I’ve asked to become better players and better people. Realistically, selfishly, I would love to bring everybody back. Could it happen? Yes or no. But my goal is to get good character guys like we have now to stay together. And for anyone who wants to come play in Illawarra, they have to know: be a great character guy, work hard, and understand your role. The precedent is set — this is what it takes.

REPORTER: I remember we were sitting there talking about the Big Ass Fan, and we couldn’t quite figure out what your job was. Could you have imagined you'd be a head coach this quickly?

JUSTIN TATUM: No man. No. I’ve told this story a thousand times. When those guys promoted me to head coach, I was walking home and forgot I drove. That’s how excited I was—I had to turn back and go get my car! So no, I couldn’t have imagined being here — talking about being NBL25 Champions. But my experience as a former player, I know how players feel, what they go through. So I can use my experience to help guys adjust. But the respect factor has to be there. And that’s what I got with this team. My coaching staff — man, I cannot say enough. If it wasn’t for JK, Matt, Sam, GRS, and Tom Cranny, we wouldn’t be here. The work they put in — the stuff I do and don’t know — they were on point. And the relationship they have with our players? It’s rare for assistant coaches to have that level of connection. I was grateful to have those guys with me.

REPORTER: Has your son (NBA star Jayson Tatum) reached out yet?

JUSTIN TATUM: Yes. He sent — this morning I woke up and told my guys — he sent a video. It was really for my team. He said, 'Pop, send this to your group'.
It was reassurance to my group — what they should feel, how to win a game. It was Game 7 for them, Game 5 for us. He sent a support message. That meant a lot. They were like, 'Hey, the whole 2023–24 Boston Celtics are about to watch our game'. And they said, 'If they can do it, we can do it'. So hearing from him and him sending that message on his own — that was unbelievable. It meant a lot to my players too.

REPORTER (possibly “J”):
How impressed were you with P (Peatling) and Lachie (Olbrich), sharing that load and covering such a huge guy?

JUSTIN TATUM: Man, those guys stepped up. When everybody asked “Sam’s out, who’s going to step up?” — Lachie's a 21-year-old firecracker. He’s very good. He has a big future. Peatling has unbelievable experience. He’s been starting for us all year, he sees things out there. And when you played them together — or when they were out there — even separately — just a lot of positive stuff happened. Whether it was screening, offensive rebounding, getting guys passes — the energy they gave us, we didn’t miss a beat when Sam was out.