BOSTON — With a Gatorade towel wrapped around his neck and soaking up sweat, Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum trudged across the parquet floor of TD Garden to the locker room, holding hands with his young son Deuce, as they often do.
Tatum has his work cut out for him tonight. Another player close to a triple-double. Another win for the Celtics. Only this time is different. This time, he ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, ending a 10-month offseason.
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For a while, he wasn’t sure if he would ever walk with his son again.
“There was a lot going on in that moment,” Tatum said of the injury. “I’m not sure what the future holds. … There’s a lot of uncertainty for me. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. There were a lot of questions creeping into my head at the time.”
Jayson Tatum makes his way through the crowd of fans to the locker room after the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 120-100 on Friday at TD Garden. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)
Within hours of the tendon tear, and before the Achilles tendon swelled, Tatum went under the scalpel of Dr. Martin O’Malley of New York. It was the fastest time ever recorded for such a surgery, or so the medical staff believed, and everyone throughout the process hoped it would speed up Tatum’s eventual recovery.
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He’s been attacking his rehab center every day since. No one has noticed this more than Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula, who wants to be there for every important moment of the recovery process. He even watched Tatum’s first steps after surgery like a proud father.
“We always knew he would be back this year,” Mazzula declared. “When he decided to have surgery within 16 hours or whatever happened, that’s when I knew.”
The rest of us don’t know. There has been speculation for months about whether Tatum would return this season. Even he has had his doubts in recent weeks and months.
All of that disappeared over the past 48 hours when the Celtics upgraded Tatum from “out” to “questionable” on the injury report and “available” on Friday. When the doors to TD Garden opened hours before tipoff, a large crowd of fans awaited the chance to welcome back the superstar who had been dormant for 298 days.
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Fans filled the stands earlier than usual. Children and adults alike wore Tatum jerseys. There are signs everywhere. The murmurs turned to cheers as Tatum emerged from the lobby for pregame warmups. The cheers turned to cheers when the introduction of the starting lineup ended with the announcement: “From Duke, No. 0, Jaaysooon Taaatuuuum.”
He felt uneasy at the moment. It took a lot of hard work to get back here, but he’s getting comfortable again when every reminder of his nine-year career comes back to him.
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However, he was nervous from the beginning. Tatum missed his first six shots, most of them from the front frame, and even failed to succeed in his first dunk. At the same time, he picked up some rebounds and assists, and finally, with 1:13 left in the first half, Tatum made sure he didn’t miss his seventh attempt with a dunk.
“It relaxes me a lot,” Tatum said. “As a basketball player, when you take a long break, you get anxious. You want it bad. And, obviously, I want to make every shot, but I’m really grateful for that. [to make one]. I’m really grateful to be back on the court and playing basketball again. “
He also plays basketball. He sets up the pick and pops up. He runs through screens on defense. He keeps the ball moving on offense. Obviously, he’s doing a lot of things he’s done before.
Seconds after his first shot, Tatum looked a lot like the Tatum of old when he drained a side-step three-pointer from the corner to give the Celtics a 55-53 lead. He scored 7 points in the third quarter as Boston pulled away, and he added another 3 in the fourth quarter to finish with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists.
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“A lot of great athletes go through ups and downs in their careers,” Tatum said, “but life is something else. What I want to accomplish is still in front of me, but the way to get there looks different for everyone. It’s tough. Obviously, I could talk about it all day, but I’m really happy that I get to do this.”
We are here now. Return is behind him. So, what now? Can he really contribute to more wins this season and turn a team that remains second in the East without him into a team that can compete with him?
“Yeah,” Tatum said with a smile. “Yes, we have a plan.”
With that, Tatum rejoined his son and left TD Garden, just as he had done many times before, only now with a new lease of life. The hero returns in triumph.
