Jayson Tatum Provides Rehab Update Amid Speculation on Potential Celtics Return

One of the biggest questions for the remainder of the NBA season is whether Jayson Tatum will return from a torn Achilles suffered in the playoffs last year. If you ask Tatum himself, that remains unclear.

Ahead of the All-Star break, Tatum participated in practice for the first time, practicing with Boston’s G League team. According to The Athletic’s Jay King, Tatum recently revealed he participated in a five-on-five workout with his Celtics teammates, another positive sign on the progress of his rehabilitation process.

At every step of the way, Tatum has insisted there’s no guarantee he will come back this season, asserting that he plans to return once he’s 100%. On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported that a return for Tatum this year will boil down to whether he believes he can return at or close to the level he was when he went out. The 27-year-old star spoke to reporters Saturday, saying “nothing is set in stone” for him to return to full practice at the NBA level.

“It’s tough to go into details of every single thing I do every day,” Tatum said via The Athletic. “But I will say [I’m] just getting acclimated more and doing limited things with some of the guys out there. But it’s all a part of the rehab. We’re just going with the plan.”

Boston’s strong year without Tatum makes a late-season return more feasible on the surface. Behind Jaylen Brown’s career season, the Celtics are 36-19, second place in the Eastern Conference and one game ahead of the surging Cavaliers. Despite the success and possible playoff run as a high seed in the East, coach Joe Mazzulla says the Celtics’ plan remains the same: Tatum will be back when he’s at full strength, no matter when that happens.

“He’s just continuing to get better on the court,” Mazzulla said Saturday. “He’s going through his progression of his workouts, working on his reads, and then continuing to hit his check marks in the weight room and in the treatment room as well. So the main goal is just making sure he gets 100% healthy and continuing to get better and better.”

With 27 games left on the regular-season schedule, the next step toward Tatum’s return appears to be participating in full practice alongside his Celtics teammates. His recovery seems to be going well thus far, providing optimism he could suit up at some point later in the season should he continue to progress.

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