Everything changed for the Boston Celtics when their four-time, first-team All-NBA superstar Jayson Tatum collapsed to the floor of Madison Square Garden on the night of May 12.
The Celtics were struggling to come back and even their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks when, with 3:08 remaining in Game Four and his team trailing by seven points, Tatum took a step to recover an errant pass.
His right leg appeared to go out from under him. He hit the floor in obviously extreme pain, and had to be helped off the court and to the locker room by trainers.
Tatum was taken straight to Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery where the next day, renowned foot ankle surgeon Dr. Martin O’Malley performed a state-of-the art procedure to repair the 27-year-old, six-time All-Star’s torn Achilles tendon.
Tatum Getting Annoyed With Rehab Already
The surgery was successful, but that only means that a long rehabilitation process was now underway.
That was 45 days ago, as of Friday.
And it was Friday that Tatum posted a message to his X (formerly Twitter) account delivering a blunt four-word message, making his feelings about his recovery process unmistakably clear.
“This is some bull****,” Tatum wrote.
Sadly, if Tatum was annoyed after 45 days, he is only going to get more upset as time goes on because the typical time period to heal after the injury he suffered and the surgery done on his Achilles tendon to repair it is approximately 10 months for NBA players.
That time period would mean that Tatum will not set foot on an NBA basketball court until sometime in March of 2026, about a month after next season’s All-Star break. While there is a slight chance that he could return before that target date, there is perhaps a greater chance that he will need additional time to get back on the court in a Celtics uniform.
The lengthy absence, as his message Friday made clear, is likely to be especially galling for Tatum. The eight-year veteran who led the Celtics to the record 18th NBA title in franchise history in 2024 has often stated his belief that he should play every game that he possibly can, even in an era of “load management” with superstar players sitting out multiple games per season despite having no notable injuries.
No Timetable For Tatum’s Return to Celtics
“I don’t like to sit out,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston in 2024. “I understand if I was injured or whatever. I just love to play the game. Especially on the road so many fans out there with Tatum zero jerseys on came to see me play. I kind of take pride in making sure I’m available as much as I can.”
In a press conference following the opening night of the NBA Draft this week, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens — who was also coach of the Celtics when Tatum was a rookie and for the first four seasons of the superstar’s career — said that the team would not set a specific timetable for Tatum’s return to competition.
“We won’t put a projected timeline on him for a long, long time,” Stevens said. “It’s baby steps right now. He’s actually progressed great, but I don’t know what that means in regard to projected timelines. But that will be in consultation with him … and everybody else to make sure when he hits the court he is fully ready, and fully healthy. And that will be the priority.”
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