Tatum has a number of thresholds to meet before he can return to the court, Stevens said.
Jayson Tatum AP Photo/Charles Krupa
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What Joe Mazzulla said about Jayson Tatum’s potential return to Celtics this season
The Celtics appear to be staying afloat without Jayson Tatum so far. They’re tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference through 26 games, and they’ve won seven of their last ten.
The concept of a potential Tatum return this season remains an intriguing one.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said Wednesday that he feels good about where Tatum is at in his recovery, but declined to offer a timeline for Tatum’s return.
“We’re not putting a timeline on it, as we haven’t the whole time,” Stevens said. “I think that one of the things that everybody can see is that we didn’t apply for a [disabled player exception] this year, which was a conscious decision for a lot of reasons.”
“But, the reality is that he’s not going to be back until he’s 110 percent healthy and he feels good about it,” Stevens added. “That’s a big part of it. Obviously he’s itching to play. Obviously he hates watching. But, he’s also — I don’t want to speak for him — very cognizant of the need to meet every threshold and why those things are put in place.”
A disabled player exception allows teams to replace an injured player with a player whose salary is worth up to the Non-Taxpayer Midlevel Exception. Players whose injuries allow for DPEs to be approved are more likely than not unable to play through June 15.
Seven months have passed since Tatum tore his achilles tendon in May during the Celtics’ second-round exit against the Knicks. He has posted video clips of himself working out on social media. While the rehab process appears to be going well, there are several thresholds that Tatum needs to meet before he can come back, Stevens said.
“There’s strength thresholds he has to meet,” Stevens said. “Then after that, several weeks of progressions from the standpoints of scripted against small groups, scripted against bigger groups, scripted in 5-on-5, unscripted, random, all the way up through those.
“It’s a long progression and it’s almost like once you hit your strength, then you hit your thresholds of progression of play, and then you’re also re-conditioning to play real minutes -whatever that looks like. He has obviously made great strides. Right now we’re obviously still focused on the real strength game.”
The Celtics have two more home games before the new year, against Miami on Friday and against Indiana on Monday. They’ll wrap up 2025 and head into 2026 on a five-game road trip.
It’s been an up-and-down season so far for the Celtics with a revamped roster and Tatum unavailable.
“A lot of positives. We’ve seen good growth, which is important,” Stevens said. “I think we’re in the midst of it, as every other team is and there’s a fine line between feelling really good about yourself and not feeling so good about yourself. I think we just have to stay in the work.
“I’ve kind of looked at us on the positive side as a work in progress. I’m really encouraged by both the work and the progress. I think we’re making strides, and so we just have to continue to do it.’
Khari A. ThompsonSports Reporter
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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