Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum has seemingly been ahead of schedule at every point throughout his recovery from a torn Achilles.

So much so that it’s appeared to be a matter of when, not if, Tatum returned to the court for the Celtics in 2025-26. But new reports have seemingly opened to the door to the idea that Tatum is going to prioritize the long term over the short term when it comes to his career and his recovery from an obviously devastating injury.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Tatum ‘wants to get it right the first time’ with this recovery. In essence, Tatum isn’t trying to come back only to have come back too soon and get hurt again.

Now there’s obviously an element of unpredictability with something like that, but something similar did happen to Kobe Bryant when he worked his way back ahead of schedule. Kobe was able to work his way back from a torn Achilles in just eight months, but was available for just six games before he suffered a devastating knee injury that kept him out for the rest of the year. Again, it’s a bit unpredictable and it may be unfair to worry about that. But it can be a factor when working back, especially if Tatum has been knowingly (or unknowingly) overcompensating elsewhere on his body throughout this arduous recovery.

And in addition to Shelburne’s reporting, NBA insider Chris Haynes said something similar regarding Tatum when appearing on NBA TV. Haynes noted that Tatum was ‘re-evaluating everything’ and was considering sitting out the remainder of the 2025-26 season. Haynes noted that there were several factors at play regarding that decision.

This update is a bit unexpected in the sense that Tatum has clearly ramped up his on-court work of late, and went through an extensive pregame workout in Detroit that had reporters gushing.

Speaking with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” on Thursday, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was clear to not speak definitively in either direction when it came to Tatum’s potential comeback.

“The mindset has been relatively consistent with where it has been the entire season, where we don’t know yet,” Mazzulla told the guys. “It was never a yes and it was never a no, it was let’s work as hard as we can trusting the sports science team, and his development with us in the weight room and training table, and put yourself in the best possible position to be as healthy as you can be and then re-evaluate.”

Without Tatum, the Celtics have remained a formidable threat in the East, with a 29-18 record that’s tied for second-best in the conference.