Inside The Celtics

Jayson Tatum on the floor, dunking, in another encouraging workout

Jayson Tatum was back on the floor during the team's shoot around before facing the Detroit Pistons. It looks like he's progressing, throwing down some nice dunks in a controlled workout, but there are still steps for him to clear before coming back.
John Karalis|
Dec 4, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Injured Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (M) looks on from the bench against the Washington Wizards in the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Dec 4, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Injured Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (M) looks on from the bench against the Washington Wizards in the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

In this story:

Boston Celtics

DETROIT -- The Boston Celtics are gearing up for an MLK Day matchup against the Detroit Pistons, giving the NBA a nice surprise of a prime time matchup between the East’s top two seeds. 

At the same time, Jayson Tatum is gearing up for what appears to be a return at some point this season. While the team is still tight-lipped about any specifics, Tatum continues to go through intense workouts while traveling with the team.

He was on the floor again at the team’s shoot around in Birmingham, Michigan, going through some shooting and other drills. 

Tatum is eight months removed from Achilles surgery, which puts him 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. 

Video evidence is one thing, but it’s important to note that individual workouts and five-on-five basketball is different. A month ago, Brad Stevens laid out the steps Tatum needs to take to get back on the floor. 

“(There are) strength thresholds he has meet,” Stevens said. “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.”

Despite looking good so far, it still looks like, at least publicly, that Tatum is somewhere in the strength or scripted against small groups phase. Obviously, we don’t have access to everything he’s doing behind closed doors, and the Celtics are very careful about what the media sees. They won’t be tipping their hand when it comes to Tatum’s return. 

“We’re not putting a timeline on it, as we haven't the whole time,” Stevens said last month. “He's not going to be back until he's 110% healthy, and he feels good about it, and that's a big part of it, right? Obviously, he's itching to play. Obviously, he hates watching. But he's also very cognizant of the need to meet every threshold and why there are those things that are put in place.”

There are advantages to Tatum returning this season that have nothing to do with helping the Celtics win games. The best argument for Tatum to get back on the floor at some point this season is to shake off whatever rust has accumulated over his time away. Because NBA basketball is such a different beast than individual workouts with coaches, his return to action would have to be viewed as a next step in his rehab rather than a grand “Tatum is BACK” return to glory. 

Not only will he have to be cleared physically, he’ll have to be cleared mentally to get back onto the floor. And once he’s there, he’ll have to learn to trust himself and his body. Other athletes, notably Kevin Durant, have talked about the mental roadblocks of coming back. It would make sense for Tatum to use the tail end of this season to try to clear those and figure out what he can and can’t do on the court after the injury. 

From there, he can head into the postseason with whatever information he just gathered from his return, put together a summer plan, and then move forward to prepare for a season where Boston would expect to rejoin the contenders in the East, presumably with some new teammates after Stevens re-tools the roster to fit their needs. Essentially, a Tatum return would help inform both Tatum and the team of what his full capabilities are and how to maximize him moving forward. 

Even if Tatum returns in February or March, there's no guarantee he’ll be “Jayson Tatum” again this season. If he can return to some level of his superstardom, then that would be a bonus for the Celtics as they try to continue their surprising run. As tempting as it may be to view Tatum’s impending return as tying a rocket ship to the second seed, it’s much more likely that there will be bumps along the way, minutes restrictions, and plenty of missed games as they tailor his return around his continued recovery. He looks good in this controlled environment, but he has a long way to go before he’ll be back to who he was. 

Published
John Karalis
JOHN KARALIS