Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
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Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
All season long, Jayson Tatum’s potential return to the Boston Celtics‘ rotation has been a hot topic of discussion.
With Tatum on the sidelines, Joe Mazzulla’s team has developed a new identity and integrated new talents into the squad. Through incremental progress, a never-say-die attitude and the stellar play of Jaylen Brown, Boston has climbed to second in the Eastern Conference.
However, many believe that if Tatum returns to the court this season, he will take the Celtics to another level.
During a recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast, Tatum shared his concerns about how a mid-season return could impact Boston’s current momentum. He spoke of his consideration for sitting out until the end of the season, and how being added back to the current roster would not be without its challenges.
“That’s something I contemplate every day,” Tatum said. “More so about the team, if or when I do come back this season, they would’ve played 50-some-odd games without me. So they have an identity this year or things that they felt have clicked for them, and it’s been successful, right, third or second team in the East up to this point. So there is a thought in my head that’s like, how does that work or how does that look with me integrating myself off an injury and 50-60 games into a season?”
Tatum continued.
“There could obviously be some challenges and it is a thought, like damn? Do I come back or should I wait? It’s something that I honestly, recently in the last two weeks or so, just kind of contemplate every single day.”
Opinions Are Split On If Tatum Should Return
If you get 100 Celtics fans in a room, odds are 60-70 of them will want Tatum back on the court as soon as possible. The other 30-40? They would probably prefer that he sit out until the summer, get himself right and start next season with a clean slate.
Both arguments have merit. On the one hand, Why would a team bench a healthy superstar? On the other, a summer of work, and a full preseason would put Tatum in the best position possible to hit the ground running.
Neither option is wrong. They just accomplish different things with the same long-term goal in mind: get Tatum comfortable and working back toward being a top-10 or top-5 guy in the league.
Former Celtics Big Man Thinks Tatum Should Wait
During a recent conversation with Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints, former Celtics forward Blake Griffin explained why he believes Tatum should wait until next season to make his return.
“There’s a lot of information on Achilles and all other sorts of injuries, but especially Achilles injuries, where, the longer you wait — like, yes, you may be able to play within, call it 10 months,” Griffin said. “But 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’ve been, I don’t know that if I was advising him — I don’t know that I would be like, ‘Yeah, you got to get back this year.’”
The Celtics front office, medical staff and trainers will decide when he’s physically ready to return. From there, the conversation regarding the impact of him coming back during the season will take place. In truth, Tatum will probably play the remainder of the season once he receives medical clearance.
The fact that he has considered waiting until next season tells you nothing is guaranteed.