Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has used a lot of words to describe his recovery from an Achilles rupture. He’s called the rehab process “tedious” and even “(expletive)” highlighting just how difficult it is to bounce back from a season-ending injury. But, despite the unavoidable struggle of learning to walk freely again, Tatum recently applied a more optimistic adjective to express his current state of being.

He did so with a friend by his side, Jon Scheyer, who’s better known as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. When Tatum first met him nearly a decade ago, during his lone season with the Dukies, Scheyer was still an assistant under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski. Now, Scheyer and Tatum have grown together, with the former reaching the top of the coaching tree at a blue blood program and the latter ascending to the apex of basketball by winning an NBA championship.

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As for the word Tatum shared with his former coach, he announced that he’s “great” while on “The Brotherhood Podcast.”

“I’m feeling great,” Tatum replied when Scheyer asked for a wellness check. “Five months and a week, roughly, at this point (since the rupture). I’m back on the court. I’m back working out, just starting to feel a lot more like myself. It’s been a long journey, from the first day of surgery to where I am now. I feel great and I’m just happy to be back on the court and playing the game that I love.”

Since suffering his significant setback in May, Tatum has had to watch his peers prepare for the upcoming regular season and stand idly by as his teammates finish training camp. That’s been difficult for the Celtics forward, as he’s remarkably never missed more than 18 games in a single NBA season.

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That will change during the 2025-26 campaign, yet Tatum will manage to keep busy. In fact, the main reason why he was back with Scheyer at his old stomping grounds was to announce that he’s the inaugural Chief Basketball Officer for Duke.

While that isn’t a clearly defined role at the moment, it’s expected to be largely advisory, with Tatum mentoring young Blue Devils with their eyes set on the pros.

Of course, Tatum’s main work still lies with the C’s. He’s doing everything in his power to return to action, and if he continues to feel great, perhaps he’ll be back quicker than anticipated.

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Jayson Tatum told Duke coach Jon Scheyer that he’s ‘feeling great’