Boston Celtics
“It is a thought: Do I come back? Should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently, in the last two weeks or so just kind of contemplate every single day.”
The writing has been on the wall for seemingly months now that Jayson Tatum will be on the parquet floor at some point this season.
Despite rupturing his Achilles tendon in May during the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks, the Celtics superstar has exceeded expectations in his road back from such a severe injury.
While no official timeline has been set by the Celtics nor Tatum himself, the 27-year-old forward continues to make sizable steps forward in his rehab — such as holding an hour-long, on-court workout in front of media last week in Detroit.
Tatum’s return — even with the expected rust that comes with such an extended layoff — would be a significant boost to a Celtics team that already sits in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
But in a wide-ranging interview on “The Pivot Podcast” this week, Tatum acknowledged the potential reservation that can start to manifest as his return to the Celtics’ lineup becomes more and more tangible.
“That’s something I contemplate every day,” Tatum told Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder when asked about fitting in with his teammates once again. “More so about the team. If or when I do come back this season, they will have played 50 some-odd games without me, so they have an identity this year or things that they’ve felt have clicked for them. And it’s been successful. They’re the (second) team in the East up to this point.
“So there is a thought in my head, like, how does that work? Or how does that look with me integrating myself off the injury … 50, 60 games into a season? There obviously could be some challenges. And it is a thought: Do I come back? Should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently, in the last two weeks or so just kind of contemplate every single day.”
It’s to be expected that Tatum to have reservations about returning under such an accelerated timeline — especially given that he likely won’t be back at full strength until the 2026-27 season at the earliest.
Even NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley noted over the weekend that has some concerns over Tatum returning less than a year after injuring himself.
“I got a bad feeling Jayson Tatum is coming back,” Barkley said on ESPN’s “Inside the NBA” this weekend. Normally, when guys have an Achilles [injury], they are out for a year. What I saw him doing last week, he’s going to come back this year.”
“It’s a great thing but I don’t think we ever had a player come back from an Achilles [this soon],” he added. “This dude out here dunking and everything. He’s got another four or five months to go. They wouldn’t have put him in front of the media in my opinion. They did that intentionally.”
Tatum credited his mother, Brandy, for helping him through his extended recovery process — while also drawing inspiration from Kevin Durant, who returned to his All-Star form after suffering a similar injury during the 2019 NBA Finals.
“I can honestly say KD is a big reason why the narrative [on Achilles injuries] has kind of changed,” Tatum said. “He was older than me when he did it, and he still returned to being exactly who he is. [He’s] someone I’m super close with and I’ve talked to, but just the way he went about it and the way he came back really changed the narrative around that injury and gave people like myself hope that, oh, you can come back and be yourself or be better.”
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