Jayson Tatum, With His Mom By His Side, Savors His Progress While Pushing For More

Imagine if Sisyphus finally got his rock to the top of the hill.

He might feel like Jayson Tatum does right now.

“I can’t stress it enough, I’m just happy to be out here, on the team, with the guys, competing, making plays, making mistakes.” Tatum said in his walk-off interview on ABC. “I’m just happy to be out here.”

Rehabbing an injury as serious as an Achilles tear can feel like a neverending task because of how long it takes. The months are full of doubt and frustration, so to get back onto the floor is, in itself, a major accomplishment worth celebrating.

“[My mother] texted me this morning and was like ‘hey, I’m coming to the game,’” Tatum told reporters after beating the Cavs. “So as happy as I am to be back, she’s just as happy. And oftentimes, I look up, and I seen her in the crowd, and she was just crying because obviously she was with me the whole way. So for me to be back on the court obviously brings my mom a lot of joy. And that's an incredible feeling just looking up and seeing her in the crowd.”

Now is the time for Tatum to soak these moments up. He’s two games into his return, which is still very much still part of his rehab, no matter how good he looks. He’s played well enough in two 27-minute outings to already answer a lot of questions about how he’ll look and fit, but not so well that we forget that he missed nearly 300 days.

“I talked a little bit with Klay Thompson after the game the other day,” Tatum said. “One of his messages was like, man, just give yourself some grace. He said that he wished he would have gave himself more grace. You know, obviously being elite athletes and competitors that we are, we want it so bad, but I'm still on the road to recovery, and this is just a phase of it.”

Tatum scored 20 against the Cavs, 12 of which came in a great opening quarter stint that stretched to nearly nine minutes. He was clearly gassed by the end, firing up a three-pointer that was more hopeful than anything. He didn’t get back into a groove until the end of the game, when he finished off a nice drive for a key layup and hit an important three-pointer to hold off a Cavs run.

He’s found enough pockets of success to feel good about where he is, even though it’s not where he wants to be. He’s back to playing, but not for as long. When he sits, he’s sitting for longer than he’s used to.

“It's been seamless,” Tatum said. “I got such a great connection with most of the group. I've played with most of these guys for a long time, a bunch of high IQ players. The toughest part for me is just being on a minutes restriction. That s--t sucks, quite frankly.”

Tatum understands the bigger picture. This week’s 27-28 minutes will eventually give way to 30 minutes, and then more. Each game will give him an opportunity to go up against a different matchup with different challenges, like Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio Tuesday night and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City on Thursday. Tatum has to take what each day presents and make the most of that particular opportunity.

“My mindset is, when I'm out there, just make plays and not force anything,” Tatum said. “It's just balancing, like being happy to be back, and then being upset that I want to play more when I’m out there.”

The Sisyphus comparison doesn’t exactly fit. In Tatum’s world, there's just another rock waiting at the top with another hill around the corner. It’s still an uphill battle, but it just looks different, though. He has a smile on his face with this one, knowing he’s already accomplished a lot. He also has teammates, and family, and friends with him for this part of the journey. He has fans who can see and revel in each very public goal reached.

And considering how far he’s come already, and how fast he’s gotten here, there's no reason to think this rock isn’t making it to the top of the hill pretty quickly.