Jayson Tatum still hasn’t played a single minute for the Boston Celtics this season. The All-NBA superstar has been sidelined all year with a serious Achilles tendon injury, leaving fans desperate for any sign of his return.
In recent weeks, Tatum has looked closer than ever to coming back. He’s been filmed grinding in the weight room and was even cleared for controlled 5-on-5 work with Celtics coaches. Hope was building fast — until now.
According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne on the Feb. 17 episode of NBA Today, the latest word straight from Tatum himself is devastating: he still has not decided whether he will play at all this season.
“I know everybody has seen that game got flexed to that spot on NBC on prime time. There’s a documentary that an NBC affiliate has been doing,” Shelburne said. “There are connecting dots. But I checked in with Jayson Tatum, and he said, ‘I’ve still not made a decision on whether or not I’m coming back this year.’”
If Tatum does choose to return, he’ll need serious time to ramp up before the playoffs. A late-March clearance would make it nearly impossible for him to regain full conditioning and peak form in time.
During a recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast, Tatum opened up about the brutal dilemma he’s wrestling with every single day.
“That’s something I contemplate every day,” Tatum said. “More so about the team, if or when I do come back this season, they would’ve played 50-some-odd games without me. So they have an identity this year or things that they felt have clicked for them. And it’s been successful, right? Third or second team in the East up to this point. So there is a thought in my head that’s like, how does that work or how does that look with me integrating myself off an injury and 50-60 games into a season?”
He continued: “There could obviously be some challenges and it is a thought, like damn? Do I come back or should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently in the last two weeks or so, just kind of contemplate every single day.”
Former Celtics big man Blake Griffin didn’t sugarcoat it either. Speaking with Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints, Griffin said he would actually advise Tatum to sit the rest of this season out.
“There’s a lot of information on Achilles and all other sorts of injuries, but especially Achilles injuries, where, the longer you wait — like, yes, you may be able to play within, call it 10 months,” Griffin said. “But does 16 months give you a much better chance at not re-injuring and not injuring something else? And I think the data on that is very clear. As good and as much fun as the Celtics are to watch this season, as good as they’ve been, I don’t know that if I was advising him — I don’t know that I would be like, ‘Yeah, you got to get back this year.’”
Celtics fans have been clinging to every update, praying for Tatum’s triumphant return. But right now, the reality is crushing: the superstar is still unsure, the medical staff hasn’t cleared him, and the final call rests entirely with him and the coaching staff.
Boston is somehow winning without its best player… but the cloud hanging over the entire season just got a lot darker. Celtics fans are officially in limbo — and they are not going to like it.