BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is on the verge of making a return to NBA action nine months after rupturing his right Achilles tendon injury during last season’s playoffs.
Tatum was listed as questionable on the Celtics’ injury report on Thursday ahead of the team’s home matchup with the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
It is the first time this season he hasn’t been listed as sidelined and undergoing rehabilitation for the injury he suffered
during Game 4 of Boston’s Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the New York Knicks last May.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has said that Tatum wouldn’t be cleared to return until he was ready to play both physically and mentally. That time may have arrived.
Tatum also has previously indicated that his return to the court would be a home game. The Celtics (41-21) have 20 games remaining in the regular season, including 11 at TD Garden. Boston is currently in second place in the East standings.
“I didn’t come back to be no role player, Doc,” Tatum said weeks after the surgery to his physician during a checkup that was chronicled in the recently released documentary “The Quiet Work,” which followed his rehab process.
When Tatum was injured last season, his thoughts quickly pivoted away from the devastation he felt for himself and what would soon be the end of his team’s bid to repeat as NBA champions.
He made the decision quickly to begin the process of turning the page and opted to have surgery the very next day.
The typical rehabilitation window to return to basketball action following Achilles tendon surgery is between 9 and 12 months.
If he indeed plays on Friday, the 28-year-old Tatum, who had surgery on May 13, will make his return to the court after 298 days.
That’s not far beyond the recovery time it took for Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins to recover from his Achilles tendon rupture. Wilkins returned at age 33 after 283 days to play in the 1992-93 season. He went on to appear in 71 regular-season games that year, averaging 29.9 points per game and being named to the All-Star team.
Tatum’s childhood idol, Kobe Bryant, made it back to the court after about eight months, but was hampered by subsequent injuries.
Tatum is in the first season of the five-year, $314 million extension he signed in 2024. He celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday.
While Tatum has been rehabbing six days per week since surgery, the decision of whether he’d return this season hasn’t been a foregone conclusion.
Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton and Portland Trail Blazers player Damian Lillard were both ruled out for the entire 2025-26 NBA season after also suffering torn Achilles tendon injuries during the 2025 playoffs. Lillard, who was with the Milwaukee Bucks last season, went down in their first-round loss to Indiana. Haliburton was injured in Game 7 of Indiana’s NBA Finals loss to Oklahoma City.
But Tatum has been on a steady ramp up since beginning his rehab and has had no known setbacks. He’s remained a fixture around the team and has been traveling on road trips while continuing his workouts.
After going through a full practice with the Celtics’ G League team three weeks ago, Tatum said he hadn’t yet made a decision of whether he’d return.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m coming back or I’m not, it’s just following the plan. So it’s just another step,” Tatum said at the time. “I don’t know percentage. I just know I feel a little bit better everyday. I just try to focus on that.”
Tatum said in the same interview that he is also mindful of not wanting to disrupt the progress of a Celtics team that is in the mix to come out of the East this season.
In particular, fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown has thrived in Tatum’s absence this season, averaging career highs in points (29.1), rebounds (7.1) and assists (4.9) while becoming one of the NBA’s elite defenders as well. It has earned him strong consideration in league MVP discussions for the first time in his career.
It’s why Tatum said he’d expressed some hesitation about possibly returning in a recent podcast appearance.
’I’m just hyper aware of what’s going on. I think it would just stem from that. Obviously, I know what I bring to the table and bring to the team. But I’m also aware that these guys have been playing extremely well,” Tatum said. “Not to say that I would mess it up or anything like that. It was just being kind of, being vulnerable, I guess, for a moment and talking from that perspective.”
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