BOSTON — Boston NBA All-Star Jayson Tatum took a big step toward returning from his torn Achilles tendon when he was assigned to practice with the Maine Celtics, the organization’s G-League team, on Monday.
The Celtics said Tatum would immediately be recalled to Boston and continue rehabbing the injury he sustained in the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring. Tatum led Boston to its 2024 title and had the team on track for a repeat before the injury, which was expected to keep him out for about a year.
Boston entered Monday night with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, and Tatum’s return could boost the team’s playoff hopes. Last month, Tatum expressed concern about potentially upsetting team chemistry by returning, but Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said that was not an issue.
“Obviously, any team with Jayson Tatum’s going to be better,” Stevens said Friday. “If he needs it, I’ll tell him every day. Because every team — all 30 of us — would be way, way better with him on the team.”
Stevens noted that Tatum still has “a ways to go” and emphasized that the team will not rush his recovery. “He’s hit a lot of the thresholds, he’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more,” he said. “There’s no pressure from us. But there’s also not going to be any of us saying, ‘Well, why don’t you just take another week?’ It’s going to be: When he’s ready, he’s ready.”