Jayson Tatum

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Mazzulla, Battle

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.

Atlantic Notes: Wolf, Nets, China, Tatum, Gordon, Edgecombe

Danny Wolf, the former University of Michigan big man, is already showing off his play-making ability, Bridget Reilly of the New York Post writes. During the Nets’ first preseason game, the 27th overall pick of the draft dished out five assists in 15 minutes.

“I mean, when the coaches trust me with the ball in my hands, it’s up to me to make a play,” Wolf said. “I think a few times, I got a little too sped up and made a few — I made an errant pass and kinda lost the ball on a ball screen. But when coach Jordi [Fernandez] draws me up or tells us to run a play and it breaks off, it’s up to you to make a play, and I tried doing that to the best of my ability.”

Wolf’s 4.2 assists per game with the Wolverines last season represented the second-best average ever for a college player listed at seven feet or taller, according to Reilly.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Nets are playing the Suns in preseason games at China on Friday and Sunday, the first NBA games in that country in six years. The Nets began their 17-hour journey to China on Monday afternoon. “When you get there, I think it’s a complete time difference overall, so for the first few days you’re on the opposite schedule,” Michael Porter Jr. told C.J. Holmes of the New York Daily News. “That’s a challenge when you go that far, but other than that, I’m excited to bring the NBA to China. I know there’s so many fans, so it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun to get our first taste against another NBA team in the Phoenix Suns, so we’ll really get to see where we’re at.”
  • While he mends from a torn Achilles, Celtics star Jayson Tatum will have added duties at the collegiate ranks. He’s been named Duke’s Chief Basketball Officer, according to GoDuke.com. In the newly created position, Tatum will volunteer his time as a special advisor to head coach Jon Scheyer and the Duke program, bringing his insights and professional basketball experience to player development, leadership, and life as an elite athlete. “I am ecstatic about the opportunity to be Duke’s first Chief Basketball Officer,” Tatum said in a statement. “This program means so much to me, and I had an unbelievable time here. I already watch every game, come back whenever I can, and connect with Coach Scheyer often. To have the chance to formalize my relationship with the program and broaden my ability to impact the players and culture means the world to me.”
  • Eric Gordon has played with VJ Edgecombe on the Bahamas national team. Gordon, entering his 18th season, is eager to embrace a mentorship role with the Sixers’ lottery pick, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays (subscription required). “At my age, in my phase of my career, you have to mentor,” Gordon said. “That’s without a doubt. I’ve been around VJ the most. I’ve known him for quite a while. Of course, I will be looking forward to not just helping him, but also all the young guys. … But when I’m in the game, I’m going to have to do my part: Knock down shots, spread the floor, let guys operate the length [of the court] on their own.”

Celtics Notes: Simons, Pritchard, Tatum, Boucher, Hauser

Anfernee Simons was a member of some playoff teams in Portland early in his career, but the Trail Blazers finished at least 10 games below .500 in each of his four seasons as a regular starter. The 26-year-old guard is joining a Celtics team coming off back-to-back seasons of 60-plus wins, and while expectations are lower in 2025/26 with Jayson Tatum recovering from an Achilles tear, Simons is enthusiastic about “contributing to winning games” in Boston.

“I was super excited to come here and join a culture that’s already been set,” Simons said at media day on Monday, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “It’s something that’s going to help my career out tremendously, playing at the highest level of winning basketball. That’s what I was excited about and being part of it.”

A talented offensive player who has averaged 20.7 points per game in 178 outings over the past three seasons, Simons has a reputation as a below-average defender. He’s aware of that label and is determined to do what he can to change it.

“It’s a matter of if I want to do it or not; it’s really that simple,” Simons said, according to Washburn. “Coming into a culture like this you really have to be able to adapt or you’re not going to be in the position you want to be. To me, it’s really that simple, and that’s the honest conversations [head coach Joe Mazzulla and I] had about it. He always says that you’re not as bad as people think you are. That’s good to hear, but also I’ve got to do the work of getting better at that end and get focused on exactly what we need to do on the defensive end. I’m pretty excited about being pushed to a new level, which I can reach.”

There has been a sense that either Simons or Payton Pritchard could start for the Celtics, with the other coming off the bench. However, as Washburn tweets, Mazzulla sought to dispel that notion on Monday, suggesting that it’s not an either/or proposition.

“I’ll nip that in the bud immediately,” the Celtics’ coach said, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “Those two don’t go hand-in-hand. They’re completely different.”

Here’s more on the Celtics:

  • Tatum has made it clear that he isn’t ruling out the possibility of returning from his Achilles tear at some point before the end of the 2025/26 season, and he raised eyebrows on Sunday when he posted a video of his on-court workouts (Instagram link). Still, he stressed on Saturday that he’s being mindful of not rushing the recovery process. “There’s no pressure to return back any sooner than when I’m 100 percent healthy,” Tatum said, according to Himmelsbach. “No pressure from [president of operations Brad Stevens], [Mazzulla], the team, the organization. The most important thing is that I’m 100 percent healthy whenever I do come back.”
  • New Celtics big man Chris Boucher, who said on Monday that Stevens told him the team has had interest in him for a while, explained why he viewed Boston as an ideal fit for him in free agency, as Brian Robb of MassLive.com relays. “I’ve been in Toronto for seven years. Obviously we had a great year with a championship and all, but also years where we’re not winning at all and it impacted my time and playing and all that,” Boucher said. “I also feel like I still have a lot to give to the game, so I wanted to go somewhere where I felt like, there’s a winning culture, winning energy and also felt like I wanted to see something different. I wanna be able to show what what I’m capable of doing in multiple ways in the game.”
  • Although he didn’t end up going anywhere, Celtics wing Sam Hauser was at the center of trade speculation this offseason for several weeks. He admitted on Monday that it was hard to ignore that chatter. “You try to block it out but you really can’t, to be honest with you,” Hauser said, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive.com. “But I know it’s part of the business. I was prepared for whatever. If I was gonna get shipped, great. I stayed, thankfully. I’m glad to be here. But even if I were shipped, I had no hard feelings here. They gave me an opportunity when no one else did. They extended me. They had to do what they had to do and I understood it, but I’m glad I’m here, to say the least.”
  • According to Himmelsbach, Stevens said on Monday that the Celtics made offers to both Al Horford and Luke Kornet in free agency in the hopes of retaining them, but admitted that the contracts they got from the Warriors and Spurs respectively are more player-friendly than what Boston could realistically have offered.
  • With Horford, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis gone and Tatum recovering from his torn Achilles, Jay King of The Athletic explores the Celtics’ efforts to reestablish their culture with a new set of veteran leaders.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Grousbeck, Chisholm, Training Camp, Simons

In an interview with Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscription required), Jayson Tatum said the realization that he won’t be able to play for several more months — or possibly the entire season — is sinking in as key dates on the calendar get closer. As the Celtics prepare to open training camp, Tatum is still recovering from the Achilles tear he suffered in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which marked the first long-term injury of his career.

“At first I was sad, I was devastated,” he said. “I was defeated. I felt like it wasn’t fair. I felt I was doing everything right, I was doing everything they asked of me and giving 110 percent and I never cheated the game since I was a kid, so it felt like I got betrayed from the game. It felt unfair and I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t feel angry but you get to the point where you accept. Now is the tough part because you’ve got media day on Monday and practice on Tuesday and it’s becoming a reality that I won’t be out there to practice and play when the season starts and that’s frustrating to have to live through.”

Washburn notes that 19 weeks have passed since the injury, and Tatum has returned to walking normally. He’s also consulting with players who are going through the same process, such as Tyrese Haliburton, Dejounte Murray and Damian Lillard. Tatum vows that the time away from the court will motivate him whenever he’s able to resume playing.

“It’s a long process,” he said. “At first you don’t feel like yourself because you’re stationary. You’ve got a splint on, you got the boot and then the crutches and a walker and a shower seat. It’s hard to feel like yourself. Once I got out of the boot was the moment I started feeling normal again, you’re putting on a shoe, starting to work out, you’re traveling again and you’re starting to get into better spirits. You are starting to feel like yourself.”

There’s more from Boston:

  • Former Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, who is remaining with the organization as alternate governor and CEO, said at a news conference on Thursday that the cost-cutting trades of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis would have been necessary even if the team hadn’t been sold this summer, relays Christopher L. Gasper of The Boston Globe. Grousbeck also reminded reporters that he was part of the committee that created the new collective bargaining agreement that made the moves necessary. At the same event, new owner William Chisholm promised that he’ll try to add to the Celtics’ collection of NBA titles, per Jimmy Golen of The Associated Press. “Let’s do whatever we can to win championships and raise banners, and raise as many as we can,” Chisholm said. “I will do whatever it takes, whatever the Boston Celtics need me to do.”
  • Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe offers a preview of training camp, focusing on the battle for playing time at center, Jaylen Brown‘s increased responsibilities and the expectations for Anfernee Simons, whose time in Boston could be short as he enters the final year of his contract.
  • Simons’ $26MM salary limits the Celtics’ trade options right now, but opportunities could open up as the season plays out, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Robb suggests that Simons is unlikely to ever get the kind of long-term deal he wants in Boston, so his best outcome would be to get traded to a team willing to invest in him.

Jayson Tatum: ‘I Haven’t Said I’m Not Playing This Season’

Appearing on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday (YouTube link), Celtics forward Jayson Tatum made it clear that he’s not closing the door on the possibility of returning from his Achilles tear at some point before the end of the 2025/26 season.

“I haven’t said I’m not playing this season,” Tatum said in response to a question from Stephen A. Smith about how the new-look Celtics might fare without him. “The most important thing is a full recovery, being 100%, not rushing it at all. But also, I don’t go to rehab six days a week for nothing.”

Tatum is one of several notable NBA players in the process of rehabbing a torn Achilles, which typically requires a recovery period of a full year — or close to it. The Celtics star underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tear on May 13.

While the Pacers have already ruled out Tyrese Haliburton – who tore his Achilles on June 22 – for the entire 2025/26 season, the Celtics haven’t done the same for Tatum, and there have been a number of positive updates on the early stages of his recovery process. Tatum’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Martin O’Malley, was the latest to offer an encouraging assessment of the forward’s progress.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a person’s calf look as strong as his,” O’Malley told Eileen Finan of People Magazine. “At six or eight weeks he was doing double heel rises. He worked his calf so hard that the side effect of loss of strength, I don’t think he’s going to have any.”

The Celtics’ medical staff will presumably have the final say on Tatum’s availability this season. That decision could hinge in part on how Boston performs without its leading scorer — if the team is scuffling around or below .500 after the All-Star break and doesn’t look capable of making a deep playoff run, there likely won’t be any urgency for Tatum to return.

Still, Tatum is holding out hope that he won’t have to wait until the start of the 2026/27 season to suit up again for the Celtics. In the meantime, he’s going to try to stay as connected to the team as he can.

“I’m going to be at practices and go to games and travel,” Tatum told Finan. “As frustrating as it’ll be to not be able to play, feeling like I’m a part of the team will help me out.”

Celtics Notes: Brown, Chisholm, Boucher, Hauser

The Celtics appear likely to take a step backward in 2025/26 due to Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles injury and the loss of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, who were both shipped out in cost-cutting moves. However, Jaylen Brown expressed optimism about the upcoming season in an interview this week on V-103 FM in Atlanta, relays Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe.

“I know Boston, it looks gloomy right now, obviously with JT being out and us kind of ending the year, but it’s a lot to look forward to,” Brown said. “I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end, so I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

Being in his hometown, Brown received a question about possibly joining the Hawks someday. With four years left on his $304MM super-max extension, it’s not a realistic possibility anytime soon, but Brown left the door open. When host Darian Morgan said he’d like to see Brown in a Hawks uniform, the Celtics star replied, “I feel you. I think my grandma would too.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

  • New majority owner William Chisholm shares Brown’s outlook about the team’s prospects, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Chisholm believes other players will seize the opportunity to replace the stars who are no longer available. “I think they’re going to surprise some people,” Chisholm said. “I think this is a good team and I think we have a really good coach and a really good president of basketball operations. I think Payton Pritchard said it in an interview, that we’re going to surprise some people, and I think there’s real talent here that hasn’t been fully realized.”
  • Newly acquired Chris Boucher may be the favorite going into camp to win the starting job at power forward, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Coach Joe Mazzulla’s handling of the four spot should provide an indication of how he plans to approach the season, Robb adds. Using the 6’9″ Boucher alongside Neemias Queta would give the team more size on defense and better rebounding. Another option is to start shooting specialist Sam Hauser, which would satisfy Mazzulla’s tactical reliance on a three-point barrage but would leave the Celtics vulnerable in other areas. Robb mentions Josh Minott as a potential wild card who could wind up earning regular minutes.
  • Second apron concerns mean Holiday and Porzingis would likely have been traded even if Tatum hadn’t gotten injured, but some other moves might have played out differently, Robb adds in the same piece. He believes Al Horford or Luke Kornet would have been re-signed if Tatum had been healthy, and the Celtics might have made a stronger effort to add low-cost veteran free agent depth.

Celtics Notes: White, Walsh, Tatum, Simons, Luis

After achieving his dream of playing for a championship team in 2024, Celtics guard Derrick White never expected it to be torn apart so quickly. Second apron limitations and luxury tax concerns, combined with Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles injury, caused the organization to make several cost-cutting moves this summer. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were both traded, while Luke Kornet left in free agency and Al Horford figures to do so too.

White talked about the changes this week in an interview with Liam McKeone of Sports Illustrated.

“That is the tough part about the business,” he said. “But it is a business at the end of the day. Jrue, KP, Luke, all of them, it was definitely tough to see them leave. You wish we could play with them forever, but this is kind of the way it is. I always wish them the best. There will be a lot of fun when we see them again. and I’m just excited to play with the people we do have.”

White is expected to take on a larger leadership role as he enters his fourth full season in Boston, and he may have to provide more scoring as well. He averaged a career-high 16.4 PPG last season while still earning votes for Defensive Player of the Year honors.

“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s obviously a different year than last year, but I think we have the same expectations and standards. So I’ve been attacking this offseason as, ‘I gotta get better.’ It’s been really fun trying to get in the gym and improve on things that I need to work on. When we get back to Boston, it’ll be a lot of fun.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

  • Jordan Walsh is the latest person inside the organization to rave about the progress Tatum has made in his recovery, per Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston. During a recent appearance on the Celtics Talk Podcast, the third-year forward indicated that Tatum is well ahead of expectations. “We’ve seen him so often,” Walsh said. “I’ve seen him from when he messed up his Achilles to now, and it’s a big difference. He’s moving around way better. So he’s progressing well. I’m definitely happy to see him getting back healthy.”
  • Anfernee Simons‘ $27.7MM contract provides the Celtics with their best chance to trade for a starting center, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. He notes that Boston has been accumulating traded player exceptions, but they won’t become useful until next offseason if the team plans to move below the tax threshold. Assuming the current roster remains intact, Robb expects Neemias Queta to get the first shot at the starting job, but adds that Chris Boucher and Luka Garza are both offensive threats who fit well into coach Joe Mazzulla‘s system.
  • RJ Luis was recently honored by Ecuador president Daniel Noboa for becoming the nation’s first NBA player, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. The rookie swingman, whose mother was born in Ecuador, was acquired from Utah in a trade last month after he signed a two-way contract with the Jazz.

And-Ones: Award Predictions, Top Forwards, Free Agency, Cui

Will Nikola Jokic win a fourth Most Valuable Player award in 2025/26? He’s the top choice among a panel of ESPN Insiders to capture the league’s top individual honor next season. Luka Doncic ranks as the second pick, with reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting the third-most votes.

The panel also offers their predictions on five other major awards, including Rookie of the Year (no surprise, they picked No. 1 draft choice Cooper Flagg) and Sixth Man of the Year (Alex Caruso and Naz Reid received the most votes}.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

  • Who’s the top forward in the NBA? Giannis Antetokounmpo is in a class of his own, according to The Athletic’s Zach Harper. The Bucks superstar holds the tier-one level all by himself in “The Bounce’s Top 40 Forwards.” Jayson Tatum, Paolo Banchero and Zion Williamson are in the tier-two “Still Elite, Just Not Giannis” level. Heading up the group of six players who round out the top 10 and start the tier-three level is Draymond Green.
  • Free agency isn’t what it used to be in the NBA, with most star players signing extensions before they ever reach that point. HoopsHype’s Alberto De Roa examines the decline in free agency’s importance, noting that only one player this summer who changed teams — new Bucks center Myles Turner — secured a contract with at least $100MM in guaranteed money.
  • Cui Yongxi – also known as Jacky Cui – is working toward an NBA comeback after tearing his ACL in December with the G League’s Long Island Nets, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets. He has been working out in Brooklyn and is now participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages in Los Angeles. The 22-year-old free agent guard had been on a two-way contract and appeared in five games with the Nets but was waived by Brooklyn in December following the injury.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Hauser, Simons, Mazzulla, WNBA

There’s no official injury update on Jayson Tatum, but it was encouraging to see the Celtics star moving around freely during two public appearances this week, writes Matty Wasserman of The Boston Globe. Tatum made a visit to Patriots training camp on Wednesday and followed that by joining coach Joe Mazzulla at the groundbreaking for a new early education center a day later.

Tatum, who underwent surgery after tearing his Achilles in a May 12 playoff game, didn’t take any questions or address his condition, but team president Rich Gotham seemed delighted with his progress.

“He’s gone from walking around in a boot and just kind of wiggling his toes to, as you see him today, he’s walking around a little more freely,” Gotham told reporters. “That’s obviously very encouraging to all of us at the Celtics … These are all little milestones in what has been a pretty grueling process for him. But it’s great to see him out at something like this.”

Gotham refused to speculate on whether Tatum would return to action if he receives medical clearance before the end of the upcoming season. However, he added, “What I know about JT is that he’s going to do everything he can to put us in the position to make a decision.”

There’s more from Boston:

  • The Celtics trimmed nearly $50MM off their luxury tax bill by trading Georges Niang to Utah, and they appear determined to get below the tax line altogether, cap expert Yossi Gozlan states in his Third Apron column (subscriber link). They’ll be about $12.1MM above the threshold once Chris Boucher officially signs, and Gozlan identifies two potential cost-cutting strategies. One is to trade Sam Hauser‘s $10MM salary and duck below the tax at the deadline by moving minimum-salaried players and replacing them with prorated signings. Another is to send Anfernee Simons ($27.7MM) to a team below the first apron, which would only have to part with $19.2MM in salary in return. That would also put Boston in position to escape the tax with small moves at the deadline.
  • The multiyear extension for Mazzulla gives the Celtics some stability amid significant roster turnover, observes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Terada adds that Mazzulla is liked and respected by his players, particularly Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
  • Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe examines the obstacles that Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca is facing in his attempt to buy the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and move the team to Boston. Washburn states that Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is on board with the effort, adding that Boston doesn’t want to wait for the next round of expansion, which might not happen until 2033.

Scout Shares Positive Update On Jayson Tatum

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.