The Celtics announced on Monday that star forward Jayson Tatum was being assigned to the Maine Celtics, their G League affiliate, for the day to participate in portions of their practice in Boston.
Tatum will be recalled to the NBA club after completing that practice, which represents another step forward in his rehab from a ruptured Achilles suffered last year in the playoffs. Tatum has been getting some individual on-court work in at the Celtics training facility, but moving to team drills is a significant step in the rehab process.
That he’s already to group activity on the court prior to the NBA All-Star break will only fuel speculation that the six-time All-Star forward could potentially return before the end of the 2025-26 season. Tatum stated prior to the season that he wouldn’t rule out playing this year, but recently noted that his focus is on making sure he gets this rehab process right the first time and doesn’t return too early and cause any setbacks.
When Tatum got hurt, the general consensus was that the 2025-26 season would be a lost one for Boston. They were aggressive in tearing down the roster and moving some key pieces from the team that won a title two years ago, trading the likes of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and let Al Horford walk in free agency.
Despite making moves to shed salary and get under the tax at the trade deadline, the Celtics are tied for second in the Eastern Conference with the New York Knicks at 34-19. Jaylen Brown has played at an All-NBA level, players that were once viewed as depth pieces have stepped into key roles and Joe Mazzulla has gotten full buy-in from this team to keep them not only in the playoff hunt, but near the top of the conference.
As a result of that success, the potential for Tatum to return to the floor this season feels more real than ever. Part of the reason most wrote off Tatum possibly playing at all this season was there figured to be little reward to outweigh the risk of coming back too soon, given Boston was projected as a play-in team prior to the season. With the East appearing wide open and the Celtics seeming set to have homecourt in at least the first round of the playoffs, Tatum returning could turn this Boston team into a legitimate title contender.
That will certainly factor into the thinking of whether he returns to action this year, but Tatum and the Celtics will keep their main focus on his long-term health. They’ll see how his body reacts to doing more on-court work and practicing with the G League team over the coming months. At some point they will want to make an official determination on his immediate future this season, and one would guess the Celtics would want Tatum to be able to play some regular season minutes rather than jumping straight in to the intensity of the playoffs.
For now, he’ll get some work in with the G League roster and keep trying to check off all the necessary boxes before that decision gets made. Given his rehab timeline thus far, a return this season remains a legitimate possibility, which would make the playoff race in the East even more intriguing.
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