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Jayson Tatum's First On-Court Workout Video Since Achilles Injury Had Fans in Awe

Liam McKeone

Jayson Tatum posted a video of his first on-court workout on Saturday night since tearing his Achilles last May.
Jayson Tatum posted a video of his first on-court workout on Saturday night since tearing his Achilles last May. / Jayson Tatum on YouTube
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It has been just about four months since Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles in the NBA playoffs. The injury was devastating at the time and recently Tatum revealed it hit him harder than anybody thought, even to the point he questioned his future in basketball. But the perennial MVP candidate has been making steady progress in his rehab since May and his latest update has fans marveling at his status.

Over the weekend Tatum posted his first on-court workout video since tearing his Achilles to his YouTube channel. It was brief but the star forward looked shockingly healthy for someone supposedly only halfway through the recovery process of perhaps the worst injury in professional sports.

He had fans in awe with how quickly he appears to be recovering and they had a hard time containing their excitement for the Boston star's progress. Even a fellow NBA star like Kevin Durant marveled at what he was seeing.

He had a message for everybody at the end of the video too.

"I'm finally back on the court," Tatum said. "I just want everybody to know, I appreciate the love and support. It's been a long journey but I'm working my tail off to get back, to get healthy. For the love of the game, obviously, and then for the fans that support me and the team. I appreciate the support."

The video got fans riled up but it does not mean Tatum is going to be fully healthy ahead of schedule, of course. The man himself admitted last week that, while he still hasn't declared he'll miss all of the upcoming season, getting 100% is the priority over meeting any kind of arbitrary return date. No matter how good his workout video looks neither Tatum nor the Celtics are going to push the envelope for the sake of getting back faster.

Still, he does look great in context of the injury. A positive development for the 27-year-old star.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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