Jayson Tatum's return looms.
The Celtics star reached the seven-month mark in his recovery from an Achilles tear last week and continues to ramp-up his activity in open practice sessions and social media posts. Recent ones show him moving explosively in one-on-one workouts, shooting on the move and he's dunked. None of that's abnormal or indicative of an immediate return, according to experts and those who have experienced tears. Rather, the reminders of modern Achilles recoveries sit right in front of Boston, with Miami's Dru Smith traveling to Boston on Friday after returning from his rupture in nine months. Indiana's Isaiah Jackson played 10 months following his surgery. If Tatum returns along those timelines, he'll be back in Boston's lineup by April.
That's not without risk, Dr. Erek Latzka of Boston Sports and Biologics told The Garden Report last week. Each additional month that a player in recovery waits up to roughly the one-year anniversary of surgery steadily reduces the chance of a re-rupture. The problem, as Tatum pushes toward a return, while vowing to only play once he's 100%, is that the 11-month anniversary of his Game 4 injury in Madison Square Garden falls on the final day of the Celtics' regular season. Tatum could return that late, but if playoff intensity and minutes loom, it could set up a grueling decision for both Tatum and the team. Joe Mazzulla said earlier this month Tatum will decide when he returns, alongside consultation with experts involved.
So what's 100% mean?
"I think that means ... they're measuring that strength in that tendon. They're having him jump on forced plates where they can measure the peak force of load going through his foot and his leg as he's jumping, and how long he's in the air essentially off of that leg versus the other leg, and I'm sure that they know what that was before. They test these players, they have all the technology to track these things, so they're gonna wait until that leg is as good as his other leg from a physical standpoint, and then even when it is, the other thing to be 100% is the mental aspect and forgetting about the Achilles, when you can't remember which leg or which ankle had the surgery and you're not thinking about it when you're playing. That's the other probably 100% and that'll be the longest. For most people, that's about a year."
December arrived, setting up critical weeks in whether or not Tatum will or won't play during the 2025-26 season. The Boston Globe reported that Tatum still needs to meet several milestones for the team to even begin discussions about a return this year, and though the Celtics never ruled him out, they expressed caution in outlining any timeline. His recovery from the injury is likely at or near finished, aside from some collagen strengthening, and the 4-6 month marks where most re-injuries occur, passed earlier this fall. That puts Tatum in position to ramp-up toward game readiness imminently.
Latza mentioned that Tatum's doctor Martin O'Malley performs SpeedBridge Achilles repair procedures, which have allowed players, particularly in football, to return faster than they typically would following a traditional surgery. The balance comes with the re-injury risk, which will inevitably become central to any conversation about a return. If he does play this season, it'll come with minutes limitations for roughly one month, Latza believed, and experts typically forecast basketball players needing more than one year to reach full comfort and resemble themselves again.
"You gotta ramp him up slowly, even in the games. We can't go back to 48 minutes right away," Latzka said. "And so just ramping up his time on the court, I think, will be important and seeing how he responds, and he might not play every game, he'll play a game here and maybe take a couple off and see how he recovers. That'll be a decision that he, the doctors and Mazzulla make altogether, but I would expect some sort of load management and slow ramp-up when he comes back."
The Trail Blazers ruled Damian Lillard, who tore his Achilles roughly one month before Tatum, out for the year, as the Pacers did with Tyrese Haliburton, who fell one month after Tatum. While Smith and Jackson's speedy returns, healthiness and effectiveness with Miami and Indiana this season spell some hope for Tatum, Jackson, considering himself 80-90% only eight months following his procedure, both players went through full training camps and preseasons before their comebacks. The Celtics will need to
