Jayson Tatum had surgery in May to repair the ruptured right Achilles tendon injury he suffered in the Boston Celtics’ Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the New York Knicks.
Jayson Tatum was expected to miss most, if not all of next NBA season, but he has been making tremendous progress.
While Tatum’s return timetable remains unknown, there’s a renewed sense of optimism heading into the 2025-26 NBA season that Tatum could return sooner than expected.
Tatum hasn’t ruled out returning during the upcoming season. If he can return to the court this season, it would be miraculous.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesJaylen Brown has scored 27.3 points per game without Jayson Tatum in his career
Tatum is still set to miss a good portion of the Boston Celtics‘ 2025-26 campaign.
With Tatum’s absence, the Celtics could see Jaylen Brown have a big season. Brown has been known as the second option behind Tatum throughout his career, but this season he will step in as the No. 1 option.
History suggests that Brown is ready to have a big season with the Celtics as the main focal point of their offense. Brown has averaged 27.3 points per game without Tatum in his career.
It’s not crazy to think Brown can replicate that average this season as he looks to carry the Celtics.
The Boston Celtics are expected to take a step back this season
The Celtics went through significant changes this past offseason, losing two key pieces from their 2024 NBA Championship team.
The Celtics parted ways with Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday due to their salary cap situation and are expected not to have Tatum for this season.
Therefore, many people expect the Celtics to take a step back and wind up being a play-in team.
But if Brown can have a big year and other players like Derrick White and Payton Pritchard have career years, perhaps Boston could surprise some people.