Celtics forward Jayson Tatum remains hopeful about his chances of returning from his torn right Achilles before the 2025/26 season ends, but he tells DJ Siddiqi of PokerStrategy.com that there’s no specific timeline or target date in place at this point.
“Nobody’s pressuring me,” Tatum said. “The team, the doctor, the organization, everybody is just like, ‘We want you to be 100% before you come back.'”
While many players who suffer Achilles tears are sidelined for at least a full calendar year, Tatum made it clear that the recovery process isn’t “time-based” and is confident there would be little risk of aggravating the injury if he’s cleared to come back before the one-year mark.
“Time is obviously important, but you have to hit certain benchmarks,” he explained to Siddiqi. “The most important thing is all these tests of your strength, the strength in your calf, the strength in your leg. Getting into the same strength as your left calf or even stronger. For some guys, that takes six, nine, 12 months. Everybody’s just different. But the surgery that I got, the things that we’ve been doing, I feel very, very confident in that surgical site. We won’t have that problem again.”
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Celtics star Jaylen Brown told head coach Joe Mazzulla that he’ll be OK after exiting Wednesday’s preseason finale with a hamstring injury, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. Brown left in the first quarter and was later ruled out for the rest of the night due to what the team called left hamstring soreness. “Talked to him after, he said he would be fine, but I didn’t get a full update,” Mazzulla told reporters after the game.
- When Mazzulla was named the Celtics’ head coach in the fall of 2022, he took over a team with immediate championship expectations. Those expectations remained the same for his first three seasons on the job, but look a little different in 2025/26 as a result of Boston’s offseason roster changes and Tatum’s Achilles injury. Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscription required) takes a look at how Mazzulla is calibrating his coaching style for the new-look roster. “I think you have to adjust based on the roster that you have and the personalities that you have,” Mazzulla said. “But also the type of personality that you want your team to have. Everyone is different so you have to treat everyone different, but at the same time you have to have a collective personality in what you’re trying to do. You have to be able to spend time and understand what makes each person tick, but your team has to tick at a certain level.”
- Ashley Battle – a Celtics scout who also held the title of assistant general manager of the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate – is leaving the organization to join the front office of the Portland Fire in the WNBA, reports Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (Substack link). A former WNBA player herself, Battle had been working for the Celtics since 2021.
Jaylen has a chance to win MVP this year, but selfish Tatum will probably screw him over
How does that work lol? I dint think tatum would even be eligible
Because when he comes back he’ll hijack the offense with his slow ass
Oh I get it you r just trying to be edgy and troll Celtics fans. Ok glhf
You don’t get it anything, that’s why you need to fake injuries to try and get some.
I’m just objective observer, you don’t like what I say, it’s because you can’t face reality
Can we get a wellness check on this guy ^
Peak projection
Well, we’ll see if you are correct if Jason comes back this season. In the meantime, Jaylen will need to lead the Celtics to wins and be ranked right up there in MVP voting with Luka, Jokic, SGA and others while Jason is out. Then when “selfish” Jason plays Celtics fans will see the team play worse. Should be easy to see so it should also be easy to see if you’re correct.
Jaylen has been surpressed playing with Tatum. He prefers to play at a higher pace where he can drive to the hoop in the open court where he is practically unstoppable. He can drive just about as strong as Giannis, but he can stop and pop with the jumper or kick it then curl over for the corner 3
This will be the first time the offense will be built around Brown. The first 10ish games they will struggle, but once his teammates learn to fill the correct lanes, they will pickup steam and have a top 5 record in the league until Tatum comes back.
Its the same offense. Mazzulla is running the same 3 pt offense.
At least he did in the pre season. That does not bode well for JBs MVP run.
Yea structurally it will be, but its the approach. Instead of walking the ball up and have Tatum try to create a double to break down the defense, the emphasis will be to push ball and keep the defense back peddling.
The preseason just looked more like it was about figuring out the player roster, especially the “bigs”…it will look much different when Jaylen, white and Pritchard are on the floor the majority of the time.
it’s definitely his chance to prove it
Jaylen Brown has no chance of being MVP. I like him a lot as a player but no.