Jayson Tatum Injury Update: When Will He Return to Celtics?
A year ago at this time, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics were cruising toward an NBA championship. This year is much different, as Tatum is recovering from the worst injury of his career, and the Celtics’ future is suddenly murky.
So, when will Tatum be back on the court for the Celtics? We will dish out a Tatum injury update and all of the current information on the timeline of his comeback below.
⏰ When will Jayson Tatum return and be back with the Celtics?
An Achilles injury is among the worst that an NBA player can sustain in terms of length of recovery.
It is expected that Tatum will be out at least eight months, and possibly as long as 16 months. Tatum appears to be on a fast track to recovery, however, and Celtics fans are hopeful that he will be able to play at some point during the 2025-26 NBA season. Dr. Lou Soslowsky, the founding director of the Penn Achilles Tendinopathy Center of Research Translation, recently told Celticsblog.com that the timing of Tatum’s Achilles surgery following the injury should play a major role in how quickly he can return.
Tatum had surgery in Manhattan, just hours after falling to the ground at Madison Square Garden in Game 4 of the Celtics’ series against the Knicks. Most NBA players that have sustained Achilles tears have had to wait days to find a surgeon.
“The fact that he did choose a surgeon, and there was availability to operate on him so quickly, gives him an excellent shot at an earlier-than-average, high-level athlete return,” Dr. Soslowsky said.
Dr. Martin O’Malley, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, was available to perform the emergency surgery. O’Malley also operated on Kevin Durant following Durant’s Achilles rupture. Durant is seen as the NBA poster boy for successful recovery following an Achilles injury.
🗓️ How long will Jayson Tatum be out for?
As mentioned above, there is no definitive length of time that Tatum will be out of action. Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum, told ESPN’s Marc Spears that he expects his son to only be out 8-9 months.
February 12, 2026 would be nine months from Tatum’s injury. This coming season’s NBA All-Star game will take place on Feb. 15, 2026. So, if everything goes perfectly, we could see Tatum back in a Celtics uniform shortly after the All-Star break. Even if Tatum’s rehab process is flawless, however, it seems more reasonable that the Celtics would wait until March or April 2026 to get their star ramped up for a playoff run.
Tatum and the Celtics will surely be studying past Achilles injuries to NBA players. Tatum idolized the late Kobe Bryant, who suffered an Achilles tear and returned just eight months later. Many believe that Bryant returned too soon from that injury, though, as he suffered a major knee injury on the same leg that he had Achilles surgery on shortly-after returning.
Here are some potential return dates which show how long Tatum would be out for.
- February 15, 2026 NBA All-Star game: 9 months, 3 days from date of injury
- March 12, 2026: 10 months from date of injury
- Late April 2026: Start of NBA Playoffs and 11 months from date of injury
- May 12, 2026: NBA Playoffs underway and exactly one full year from date of injury
- October 2026: Start of 2026-27 season and 17 months from date of injury
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