How Close Jayson Tatum Could Be to Returning for Celtics After Latest Milestone

Tuesday represented another milestone for Jayson Tatum as the Celtics superstar continues to recover from the Achilles injury he suffered last May.

After nearly nine months of rehab, Tatum took the floor for practice at the Auerbach Center in Boston. He’s been around the team throughout his recovery but Tuesday was the first time he participated in a practice. He didn’t suit up alongside Jaylen Brown or his other Celtics teammates, instead practicing with the Celtics’ G League team. Nevertheless it’s a great sign of progress for the 27-year-old star.

Tatum spoke to the media afterwards and echoed all of his previous sentiments surrounding his injury: There’s no guarantee he will come back this season. The Celtics’ unexpected success this season is not affecting his timeline to get back on the court one way or another; Tatum and other key figures in the organization such as Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla have been consistent in their chorus on that front.

“Still trying to figure it out,” Tatum told reporters when asked if he would come back this year. “Still just going through the progressions of rehab. Not saying that I’m coming back or not. It’s all about being 100% healthy and going through the plan.”

But his return to G League practice is a tangible box checked. The announcement he had been assigned to the Maine Celtics for the practice was the first official update Boston gave on Tatum since the beginning of the year. While Tatum was quick to note his presence at practice wasn’t an indicator of any sort it is undeniably another step forward towards full health for the star.

Until he or the team offers insight into his potential return the public has no real idea when Tatum might be back. The commonly cited number is 10 months to fully recover and based on that he’s about a month away. But everyone’s recovery is different and his latest milestone can give us a general idea of how close he is to being fully healthy based on the recovery timelines of previous NBA players.

Comparing Jayson Tatum’s injury timeline to previous NBA stars

Part of what makes this a tricky exercise is the lack of obvious comparisons for Tatum. It is natural to want to line it up against the recoveries of Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton, respectively; both star guards tore their Achilles around the same time the Celtics star did. However, Haliburton got hurt a month later than Tatum and a Lillard return this year was never on the table for the Trail Blazers. Kevin Durant is the most common name thrown around when discussing Tatum but KD’s actual timeline to recover was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which altered the season after he got hurt and delayed the beginning of the 2020–21 campaign, giving him more time to return to the court and make his debut with the Nets.

That leaves us with Klay Thompson as the most recent and logical comparison for Tatum. Thompson tore his ACL in 2019 while with the Warriors and then tore his Achilles in early 2020, so it again isn’t a clean comp. But looking at his Achilles recovery in particular, Thompson was cleared for five-on-five work with Golden State’s staff in mid-November 2021. He returned to Warriors’ practice as a full participant on Nov. 21 before taking the floor on Jan. 9, about six weeks later. It’s not exactly the same as Tatum but if he did indeed return in six weeks’ time it would roughly line up with the big-picture 10-month recovery timeline mentioned above.

Going back a bit further (and breaking out of the wing player archetype) DeMarcus Cousins suffered an Achilles injury in January 2018 while with the Pelicans. He wound up signing with the Warriors to rehab. On Dec. 9 of the year he tore his Achilles, Cousins was assigned to Golden State’s G League affiliate to practice—just like Tatum was. He made his post-injury debut about five weeks later on January 19.

It cannot be stated enough that each injury is different and there is no precise timeline every single player who tears their Achilles follows. But the Cousins and Thompson timelines serve as useful data points, and it’s clear their return to practice in some form was one of the last boxes they checked before getting back on the court. And if he follows their pattern, Tatum could be back on the court sometime in the next month and a half.

It’s no guarantee, as he and the Celtics continue to hammer home. But history suggests the superstar is closer than ever to getting back out there.

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