Jayson Tatum's teammates aren't worried about return hiccups - they're ready to win

BOSTON — As the outside world was caught in a Jayson Tatum-centered frenzy, Derrick White, Hugo Gonzalez, and Amari Williams escaped to the YMCA in East Boston for an hour. Their quest directive?

Smoothies.

The Boston Celtics, Sun Life, and the YMCA sponsored the “Fit to Win” nutrition event. Five teams of elementary and middle school kids competed in a smoothie- and cereal-bar-making contest, with White, Gonzalez, and Williams each heading up their own squad.

White, a past winner of the event, was extremely confident heading into the night. But so was Gonzalez.

“Hugo has no chance,” White said before the competition. “When I was told it was Hugo, I was like, 'Oh, we got an easy one this year.' I thought they'd maybe give me a little bit of a challenge, but we'll see what the Spanish smoothies are like out there. That would probably be, to see what different cultures are doing. But as long as the judges don't mess with me, because once here, I got the judges messing with me, I'll get a win.”

White spent most of the contest roaming the floor, sneaking looks at his opponents’ work, and talking trash. Gonzalez even called him out for standing a bit too close to the judges’ table when the final scores were being tallied.

Though, according to White, he’s been snubbed in the past on account of being ‘too good’.

“The judges were like, ‘Oh, we can’t let you win every time,’” White said, recalling a past defeat. “As long as I don’t have that, I’ll be fine.”

After the first round, White’s team was tied for the lead. “I do this,” he yelled. But that success didn’t last long.

In the end, none of the three Celtics-led teams were able to bring home the win. It was another team, all of whom walked away with signed basketballs.

But despite the blueberries, bananas, and pineapples taking center stage for a fleeting moment in time, the Tatum talk still took over.

For the first time all season, Tatum was upgraded to questionable for Friday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. All signs point toward him playing, including an update from Shams Charania of ESPN.

The Celtics superstar has worked for months to get to this point, and as his return inched closer and closer, his excitement grew rapidly.

“The first time he was able to get up and down and play, four-on-four, five-on-five, you could kind of see the excitement go up, because that's obviously what he loves to do,” White said. “And being away from basketball was really difficult for him. And so, I think the more basketball-related stuff he was able to do, and getting up and down, and competing, and just having fun with the game, you can see the excitement level coming back up, the possibility of him returning, and I think it's just been going [up] increasingly as he's been ramping up his his rehab.”

When Tatum got hurt, it was more than just a catastrophic blow to the Celtics’ on-court goals: It was a devastating personal experience.

Take basketball out of it: This was crushing. Tatum saw his entire life change in an instant. From being one of the best athletes in the world to needing help to stand up. The mental journey he went on to get back to the point of walking again was an unfathomable challenge, let alone playing NBA basketball.

Now, the basketball has to be taken into account. It’s time to play again.

But the Celtics aren’t just adding a random player to the mix. Tatum has been with them every step of the way.

“He's been really present, really a vocal leader with his presence,” said Gonzalez. “He has been with us [on] a lot of trips and [in] a lot of meetings, and he's been right there.”

And it’s been that way from the jump.

“Early on, when he was on all the road trips, [and] not just the good cities, you kind of realized that he was going to be around,” White said. "And I think that was, like, big for a lot of people, just having him around. Someone they can lean on in games, on the plane, or whatever it might be, and so, just his presence has definitely helped us win some games. Joe [Mazzulla]'s talked about, everybody kind of leads their different way, and I think him being around has definitely helped us a lot this year.”

For Tatum, that experience has been important. It’s allowed him to stay up to date with everything Boston wants to do on the court, which should make his transition back into the lineup that much easier. But nothing is ever that simple.

And the Celtics are ready for whatever comes their way.

“I have no idea what it's