The Boston Celtics are bracing for a gap year following Jayson Tatum's torn Achilles in Game 4 of the club's Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the New York Knicks.
Tatum is expected to miss most, if not all, of the upcoming season due to the Achilles injury, while the Celtics have made it relatively clear that they are focused on shedding salary and retooling ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. Boston essentially punted any chance at title contention when it traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in June, dumping their salaries as part of a series of moves to maneuver below the second apron.
Now, Celtics fans will await Tatum's return and hope he can restore his superstar status after an extremely serious injury. Even if he is somehow able to return near the end of this upcoming season, he almost certainly won't be the same player less than a year removed from surgery.
MORE: NBA analyst issues bold take on Celtics' championship odds with Jayson Tatum
NBA analyst bets on Jayson Tatum's recovery
A torn Achilles can be a career-altering setback, though some players have proven that it's possible to return to full form. Kevin Durant said on the Mind The Game podcast in July that Tatum reached out to him for advice. Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals, yet he has since earned five consecutive All-Star selections.
Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report believes Tatum will overcome his injury and return to All-Star form in the next three years, predicting that he'll once again be the Celtics’ best player by 2028.
“Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, like Tatum, will be under contract in three years. This is a bet that Tatum, the superior player prior to injury, will still be better than both once he's recovered,” he wrote.
Tatum has earned six consecutive All-Star nods, and he has been named to the All-NBA First Team in four straight seasons. The superstar will still be only 30 years old entering the 2028-29 campaign, so it's hardly a stretch to believe he'll bounce back as the team's best player by then.
With youth on his side and a proven track record, there's little reason to believe Tatum won't return to form and lead the Celtics for years to come.
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