Jayson Tatum drops MAJOR hint about a timeline for his return to the Boston Celtics

It’s been eight-and-a-half months since Jayson Tatum had his ruptured Achilles tendon repaired, and in that time he’s made great strides towards a comeback. He is squarely in the return range first expressed by his father in an interview with Andscape’s Marc Spears. In that interview, Justin Tatum said he expected his son back within 8-9 months, which would be between January and February 13.

Now, Jayson Tatum has dropped an even clearer hint about when he might return.

Speaking on “The Pivot” podcast, Tatum was expressing some level of concern about how he’d fit in with this current group of Celtics.

“If or when I do come back this season, they would have played 50 some-odd games without me,” he said. “They have an identity this year, or things that they felt has clicked for them, and it’s been successful.”

The Celtics are currently 29-17, which is 46 games into the season. So saying the number “50” throws a very specific number out there.

It would be easy to think Tatum misspoke, but as he kept talking, he went back to that range as part of his answer.

“How does that look, with me integrating myself off an injury, 50-60 games into a season,” he said. “Obviously could be some challenges. And it’s a though, like, ‘damn, do I come back? Or should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently, in the last two weeks or so, kind of just contemplate every single day.”

If there's one thing to know about Tatum, is that he does things intentionally. Even if he misspoke the first time, he would have either corrected himself or simply not have repeated the number. So it’s safe to say that he’s looking at a game 50 to 60 games into the season for his return.

Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston laid out the whole list. The list is only home games, because Tatum has explicitly said he wants to return in front of the home crowd.

Jayson Tatum on Pivot Podcast: “If or when I do come back this season, they would have played 50 some-odd games without me.”

Later said he’s pondered how he fits rejoining team “50, 60 games into a season.”

C’s home games in 50, 60s:

Gm 52: 2/6 vs MIA
Gm 53: 2/8 vs NYK
Gm…
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) January 28, 2026

There is an obvious game on February 8, which would be almost exactly nine months since the injury, which he suffered on May 12. It’s a home game against the team the was facing when he went down. It’s also Super Bowl Sunday, which would add a layer of excitement in a city already pumped for the Patriots surprise run to the big game.

But the obvious question is whether he’s ready. Remember, Brad Stevens has laid out the steps pretty clearly.

“(There are) strength thresholds he has meet,” Stevens said back in December. “After that, several weeks of progressions, from the standpoint of scripted against small groups, scripted against bigger groups, scripted in 5-on-5, unscripted random, all the way up through those. But it's a long progression, and it's almost like, once you hit the strength, then you do your thresholds of a progression of play, and then you're also reconditioning to play real minutes whatever that looks like.”

This is where we turn to Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who was injured five weeks after Tatum. Haliburton appeared on the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James and said he was playing full court basketball.

“My body feels really good,” he said. “Just started playing three-on-three, four-on-four full court … the other day we had our low-minute guys come play with us.”

Tyrese Haliburton gives an update on his Achilles injury

“Man I feel really good my body feels good. Just started playing 3-3 and 4-4 full court that’s been good. I’m playing with interns and player development guys and I feel so nice and think I can play in the NBA right now.… pic.twitter.com/MHkXfQB0Ne
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) January 27, 2026

That means he’s not just going up against assistant coaches and player development guys, most of which are former players. He’s also facing guys playing at a current NBA level. Of course, part of his story included getting dusted by Benedict Mathurin, who is rehabbing an injury himself, and realizing he still has a ways to go. But he’s on the floor, which is very much towards the end of the list of things Stevens laid out.

And Tatum had a five-week head start.

We don’t know where Tatum is in all of this. We’ve seen Tatum go through workouts in front of the media, none of which involved full court scrimmaging of any kind. But what has he been doing behind the scenes?

Tatum doesn’t say things just to say them, and he doesn’t do things just to do them. Him saying he’d be rejoining the team after they played 50-60 games means something. There's always a chance for a setback along the way, but between what he said on the podcast and the workouts in full view of the media, Tatum is very clearly signaling that he’s getting close.