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Jayson Tatum Used One Frustrated Word to Describe Rehab From Achilles Injury

Liam McKeone

Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in May during the NBA playoffs.
Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in May during the NBA playoffs. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
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Jayson Tatum is a few months into his Achilles recovery process after the Celtics superstar tore it during the NBA playoffs against the Knicks in May. He hasn't made many public appearances since suffering the devastating injury, but the occasional, basic updates from the team indicate Tatum is progressing as expected.

On Wednesday, the All-NBA forward made his first comments on how his recovery is going in a brief clip shared by the official NBA social media accounts. Tatum acknowledged that the first six weeks after the injury were "the toughest six weeks of any point" in his life. He also used one frustrated word to describe the process at large: tedious.

"Rehab is... It's tedious, man," Tatum said. "It's six days a week. It's starting to get a little bit better, I'm out of the boot now. Better days ahead, but just trying to take it one day at a time. You got to be resilient. That first six weeks of this was probably the toughest six weeks of any point in my life. Just had to accept it and realize it happened and now I gotta do everything in my power to get back to who I was and get back to playing."

It's a similar sentiment to the one given by Tyrese Haliburton last week as he discussed his own recovery journey; the Pacers star tore his Achilles about a month after Tatum in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Rehab is a grueling process and when it comes to an injury of this severity signs of progress are slow coming. It isn't a day-by-day thing so much as it is a month-by-month thing.

The Celtics seem set to embark upon a reset year with Tatum sidelined and recovering. It doesn't seem likely he'll take the court next season. But, tedious as it all is, he seems determined to get back to full strength.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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