The picture came across in a text message Thursday afternoon.
?Young fella has bounced back nicely?
Jayson Tatum, arms folded and smiling, was standing with Boston Celtics assistant coach Amile Jefferson at Chris Paul?s CP3 Elite Camp in Las Vegas. And while the focus of the event was the young high school and college players being put through their paces and showing their skills, the messaging scout figured the update on Tatum would be of interest to a Boston-based NBA writer.
The Celtic star went down with a ruptured eight Achilles? tendon late in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series loss to the Knicks. Tatum remained in New York and underwent surgery the next day at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
jayson tatum celtics
Heavy Sports
A photo of Celtics star Jayson Tatum and assistant coach Amile Jefferson at Chris Paul?s camp that was sent to Heavy?s Steve Bulpett.
There has been no timetable released regarding his return to play, but, assuming continued progress and no setbacks, the possibility of him rejoining the Celts late in the regular season has not been ruled out. (On the other hand, the Indiana Pacers have stated that Tyrese Halliburton will miss the entire 2025-26 season after suffering a similar injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals more than a month later.)
?He Was Moving Really Well,? a Scout Said About Jayson Tatum
The untrained eyes in Las Vegas this week offered optimism.
?He was moving really well,? said the scout in a phone conversation with Heavy Sports later that day. ?There might have been a slight limp or something, but the surprising thing to me is that he didn?t have a boot for any of it.
?I?m no doctor, but I?ve seen guys coming back from Achilles? tears, and he looked way ahead. I was kind of shocked to see how well he was moving. I have no idea for what any of this means for when he can come back. I?m sure him and the Celtics? medical people have their program set up, and they?ll make sure that he?s where he needs to be when he does get back. But he looks great right now. Of course, he didn?t do any running or even jogging, but he was in great shape and he had no trouble doing his part at the camp.?
https://heavy.com/sports/nba/boston-celtics/jayson-tatum-moving-well-cp3-camp/
Papa Tatum might be right about a Feb/March return? 🤔
Strategic move as the East is weak...you can make the NBA Finals being an 8-seed as demonstrated by the Heat two seasons ago. There's been a flurry of very low-seeded teams making it as far as Conference Finals recently anyway the past 2 years (Lakers-7, Pacers-6 and 4, Dallas-5, Heat-8).
But all that said, I'd rather they sit him out for the rest of the season. Him competing with this roster would be an atrocity especially if Brad already made transactions that moved Kristaps and Jrue and Horford with one foot out the door
