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During the trip, Brady Hanlen got a Super Bowl jacket, size 2XL.

“And he couldn’t even zip it up,� Drew Hanlen said. “He was at probably 320 pounds.�

The St. Louis native Hanlen is a basketball skills coach. He is the “Jayson Tatum Whisperer� who has been Tatum’s personal coach along the journey to the NBA mountaintop (the St. Louisan Tatum, of course, led the Boston Celtics to the 2024 NBA title). Much of Hanlen’s coaching success comes from how he connects with clients — and from the strategies he utilizes.

“It was time for my dad to make a change,� Hanlen wrote in “Stop B.S.-ing Yourself,� his new book. “But to help him want to make that change, I didn’t need to educate him. I needed to touch his heart.�

Hanlen spoke to his father about his own father, who worked his body too hard and drank whiskey for the pain — and developed liver failure in the process. Hanlen told his dad that grandpa died “a decade too soon because of bad habits and bad decisions ... and you’re headed down that same exact road.�

Hanlen then said — he wanted his dad to experience things his own dad didn’t get to.

The next day, Brady Hanlen began a walking routine.

He proceeded to lose 90 pounds.

“That was when it really hit me, like — Drew, you’re doing a disservice just to use this system (with family) or NBA players,� Hanlen said by phone. “That’s honestly what inspired me to write the book.�

Hanlen is one of the most fascinating people I’ve met in sports — I’ve interviewed him numerous times during Tatum’s ascension. By developing athletes’ minds and mindsets, Hanlen developed elite athletes. Yes, he also works them out hard. Heck, his company is called “Pure Sweat.� But Hanlen’s ability to mix perspiration with inspiration has brought the best out of Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Tyrese Haliburton and Tyler Herro, All-Stars all.

“I realized that the most important aspect of helping them get results was the mental side of the game,� said Hanlen, 35, who was a standout player for the state champion Webster Groves High team in 2008. “And for the last two decades, I’ve helped my players break bad habits, form good ones, get over their doubts and insecurities and then help them develop a process for improvement.

“And so I constantly get asked by players and coaches, and then just everyday people, about that kind of process of getting to the next level. So I thought — why not really sit down and break this down into a format that is a system (from a book) that everyone can use.�

Hanlen’s coming home. He lives in L.A. and spent 287 nights on the road last year — NBA city to NBA city — but on Tuesday, he’ll visit St. Louis. Hanlen is hosting a 6 p.m. event at Llywelyn’s Pub in Webster to sign copies of “Stop B.S.-ing Yourself.�

So what exactly does it mean to “B.S. yourself?�

“We all have one thing, or a couple things, that are the invisible strings that are holding us back from living our best life,� Hanlen shared. “It could be a bad habit that you can’t break. It could be a conversation that you know you need to have but have been avoiding. It could be a promise that you keep breaking with yourself. It could be a fear that you’re scared to face. It could be that you haven’t made peace with your past, and that is guiding all your decisions and actions in the present and in the future.

“And so it’s basically helping you identify the invisible strings in your life that are holding you back from the life that you’re capable of living. After you identify them, it gives you a system to eliminate the excuses, no matter how valid they seem. It helps you stop settling for less. It helps you make peace with your past so it no longer controls you. And it really just helps you kind of find inner peace, which is what I think we all should be striving for. To me, the winning recipe is when you can really love the life that you’re living — and love the person who you are. And I think there are a couple stories in the book that talk about what winning really looks like.�

Hanlen also shared numerous stories about his clients winning in basketball, be it the MVP award, the Olympic gold medal or the NBA title.

Hanlen began training Tatum when Tatum was 13. Tatum’s now 26 — so he’s been with Hanlen for half his life. Most of the details of Tatum’s game — the way he dribbles or navigates picks or pulls up for jumpers — have been taught or fine-tuned by Hanlen.

And this past June, Hanlen celebrated with Tatum when the Celtics won the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Hanlen hugged him on the confetti-clad court. And later in the night, Hanlen hung with Tatum’s family and close friends in a private room, when a quote pierced Hanlen’s ear.

A videographer had documented Tatum footage during the journey to the title. The videographer said: “Now we can finally tell your story!�

And Tatum said: “This is just the start.�