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.”