'That's Not My Mom...': T.J. McConnell's Honest Admission on Viral NBA Finals Moment

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Rowan Fisher-Shotton | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 8:27 PM ET

The Indiana Pacers capped off the 2024-25 NBA campaign with their first 50-win season in over a decade (2013-14) and first NBA Finals appearance since 2000.

Under veteran head coach Rick Carlisle, the Pacers clinched the No. 4 seed in the East before taking out the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games and then outlasting the New York Knicks in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the NBA Finals, Indiana pushed 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink, stealing Game 1 on the road before alternating wins until a final Game 7 back at Paycom Center.

There, in a must‑win scenario, backup point guard T.J. McConnell broke out with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists, despite the series finale ending in a 103-91 loss.

Amid the post‑game fallout came a viral broadcast clip: cameras following a tearful McConnell down the tunnel, where a protective woman shooed them away, a woman who many fans across social media assumed was his mother.

On Tuesday, in McConnell's Players’ Tribune feature "It Was Awful, It Meant Everything," McConnell set the record straight: the woman is Karen Atkeson, the Pacers’ vice president of player relations.

Over six seasons together, McConnell says Atkeson has become "like family," and her instinctive defense of his privacy after Game 7 "says a lot…because in a way it’s what our mentality was as a team the whole season. We did this as a family."

Originally undrafted in 2015, McConnell signed with Indiana in 2019 and has since climbed into the top 10 of franchise assist leaders, amassing 2,080 dimes, ninth all‑time for the Pacers.

He averaged 9.1 points, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals in just 17.9 minutes per game last season, and in the playoffs, had the second-best PIE (Player Impact Estimate) of any player who competed in more than 20 games, behind only the league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

McConnell averaged 12.0 points, 4.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals across seven NBA Finals games, with his energy and defensive tenacity leading to several momentum swings and iconic moments that defined the Pacers' historic playoff run.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: