Celtics forward Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles less than three months ago and is still a long way from being cleared for basketball activities. However, a scout who saw Tatum working with high school and college players at Chris Paul‘s CP3 Elite Camp in Las Vegas said the 27-year-old is looking good early in his recovery process, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com.
“He was moving really well,” the scout said of Tatum. “There might have been a slight limp or something, but the surprising thing to me is that he didn’t have a boot for any of it. I’m no doctor, but I’ve seen guys coming back from Achilles tears, and he looked way ahead. I was kind of shocked to see how well he was moving.
“I have no idea for what any of this means for when he can come back. I’m sure him and the Celtics’ medical people have their program set up, and they’ll make sure that he’s where he needs to be when he does get back. But he looks great right now. Of course, he didn’t do any running or even jogging, but he was in great shape and he had no trouble doing his part at the camp.”
We can only glean so much information from the observations of an outsider who doesn’t have access to Tatum’s medical information (and, by his own admission, wouldn’t know what to make of it if he did).
Still, as Bulpett writes, it’s worth noting that – unlike the Pacers with Tyrese Haliburton – the Celtics haven’t formally ruled out Tatum for the entire 2025/26 season following his postseason Achilles tear. The team will obviously be cautious with its franchise player, who is entering the first season of a five-year contract worth nearly $314MM, but if his recovery plays out ahead of schedule and Boston is in the playoff picture, there’s a chance he could be back on the court by next spring.
While it’s possible there will be an announcement sometime in the next month or two, we can probably count on getting our next official update from the Celtics on Tatum during the club’s media day at the start of training camp this fall.