Jayson Tatum expressed uncertainty over a return through recent comments on the Pivot Podcast and multiple reports on Wednesday night, the day following the podcast’s release, including Chris Haynes indicating that Tatum is re-evaluating whether he’ll play this season as he recovers from his Achilles tear. Haynes cited multiple reasons for Tatum’s reversal, which followed reports from his camp that Tatum had neared a comeback.
Tatum himself referenced the challenge of integrating into a team 50-60 games into the season and the success they achieved through their new identity as reasons he contemplated not returning earlier this month. The Celtics played their 47th game on Wednesday, losing to the Hawks in a 117-106 blowout, leaving little discussion about the Tatum comments following the game. Haynes announced his report roughly less than an hour after Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Jaylen Brown spoke after the loss.
“If he is going to return, we’re welcoming him with open arms,” Hauser said. “I mean, such a great player, and any time you can have the luxury of adding a player like that to your rotation, it’s pretty exciting. So whatever his timetable is, it’s kind of up to him. We’re trying to focus on every day and then try to win as many games before he does come back, if he ends up coming back. So if that’s the case, we can’t wait.”
Any number of reasons could have contributed to Tatum’s reversal from his stated desire to play this year from training camp. He stressed that he never ruled himself out for the season, but that he would not play until he reaches 100% in his recovery. Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens mostly put the decision in Tatum’s hands in consultation with the medical experts on the team and Tatum’s side. Haynes’ report referenced the change as Tatum’s choice, and Tatum followed with a response to ESPN that he wants to get his return right the first time.
Mazzulla, in his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday, said Tatum did not have a physical setback while praising his vulnerability and emphasizing that his return could be disruptive in a good way. Tatum never ruled out a comeback this year, but it’s possible this sentiment emerged ahead of looming decision dates about whether or not he would play this season. Tyrese Haliburton, who tore his Achilles one month after Tatum, discussed his progression through scrimmage work where it hit him how unprepared he remained for NBA defense. Haliburton, injured in June, and Damian Lillard, who fell in April, ruled themselves out for the season.
“He’s progressing naturally,” Mazzulla said on Thursday. “He’s got a great team around him and really just trusting that process. But he’s checking boxes and there are checkpoints, obviously, that you have to go through in a rehab process and he’s hitting those and continuing to work, and that’s the only thing that I check in on and care about is, where is he at as a person throughout this process? And at the same time, where is he at from a rehab standpoint and how can we make it easier?”
The Celtics reach the 50-game mark on Tuesday in Dallas and their 60th game comes on Mar. 1 against the 76ers in Boston. Tatum reaches nine months in his recovery in February, around the time other players like Dru Smith, Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman made their returns to the floor following Achilles tears they suffered last season. They all had the benefit of full training camp and preseason ramp-ups. Tatum’s mid-season timing would be unprecedented for a player of his caliber, though he also benefited from technological advances that not even Kevin Durant, the greatest example of a successful Achilles rupture recovery in NBA history, experienced.
If Tatum waits until training camp in September to return to team activity, he would appear in the preseason nearly 17 months removed from surgery, a similar timeframe to the one Durant experienced because he did not participate in the 2020 NBA Bubble. Still, Tatum’s pause sounds more related to the mental hurdle often referenced as the final one players must overcome in their comeback attempts. The Celtics, in turn, will need to find answers for balancing Jaylen Brown and Tatum’s dynamic, with Brown more often referencing what he’s proven this season and what he’s sacrificed in the past, along with the roster and stylistic choices that made the team successful this season.
Tatum sounding unsure about how he would fit into that mix, along with the physical impact of the injury, both raise questions about how Boston will structure its roster and offense into the future. And those will remain whether Tatum returns in March or October. The last game of the Celtics’ regular season falls on the 11-month mark of Tatum’s procedure. The NBA trade deadline is one week from today, which undoubtedly will be impacted by his outlook as the Celtics stay competitive in the East, but have signaled their focus being the long-term and getting Tatum right.
“They have an identity this year or things that they felt have clicked for them, and it’s been successful, right? Third or second team in the East up to this point,” Tatum said. “So there is a thought in my head that’s like, how does that work or hows does that look with me integrating myself off an injury and 50-60 games into a season? There could obviously be some challenges and it is a thought, like damn? Do I come back or should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently in the last two weeks or so, just kind of contemplate every single day.”
