The Boston Celtics have been without Jayson Tatum to begin the 2025-26 NBA season. The superstar forward is currently sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury. There\u2019s no timeline for his return to Joe Mazzulla\u2019s rotation. <\/p>\n
However, over the past two months, Tatum has begun releasing footage of his workouts to social media. The videos started with him dunking from a stationary position and working on his dribbling. They\u2019ve slowly progressed to playing one-on-one without contact and working on step-back jump shots off the leg he previously injured.<\/p>\n
As expected, Celtics fans are now hopeful that Tatum could return to Boston\u2019s rotation before the end of the season. Interestingly, former Celtics forward Blake Griffin, speaking with Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints,<\/a> isn\u2019t sure an in-season return would be best for the All-NBA forward. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of information on Achilles and all other sorts of injuries, but especially Achilles injuries, where, the longer you wait \u2014 like, yes, you may be able to play within, call it 10 months,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cBut does 16 months give you a much better chance at not re-injuring and not injuring something else? And I think the data on that is very clear. As good and as much fun as the Celtics are to watch this season, as good as they\u2019ve been, I don\u2019t know that if I was advising him \u2014 I don\u2019t know that I would be like, \u2018Yeah, you got to get back this year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n By sitting out until the 2026-27 season, Tatum would have the opportunity to ramp himself back up to NBA fitness without the added risk of re-injuring himself during a game. He would also be starting a new season fresh, where there\u2019s less pressure to perform from the outset. <\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n