Jayson Tatum is now 40 weeks into his rehab process, and squarely in the window for a potential return to play in NBA games. He’s gone through all the progressions to strengthen his surgically-repaired Achilles tendon and has moved on to the ramp-up phase, which includes “more conditioning, more live things, getting acclimated to playing five on five, and contact,” according to Tatum.
His recent practice with the Maine Celtics went well enough for Ron Harper Jr., who played in full court game, to declare Tatum “looked like Jayson Tatum, I’ll say that much.”
Jaylen Brown can also confirm Tatum’s progress. He didn’t see the scrimmage against Maine, but he’s seen some other prior to that.
“He looked good, to be honest,” Brown said at All-Star media day. “He looks like he's progressing along. He's checking off all the right boxes. Obviously he needs to take his time to mentally, spiritually, emotionally make sure everything feels right before he makes any decisions. In terms of what I've seen, he looks pretty damn good.”
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With is return seemingly getting close, Tatum has released a teaser for a docuseries that will air on NBC, containing exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of his rehab.
“Ever since I was four, I gave my life to this game,” Tatum narrates as the trailer begins. “Since the day I got drafted, nobody played more games than me. Nobody played more minutes.”
After some quick cut set up of a healthy Tatum, the video goes to his injury, an a security cam glimpse of him being wheeled into the back at Madison Square Garden.
“Yesterday, I was Superman,” he said. “Now I'm in a wheelchair. Am I ever gonna play again?”
Another inside look is the cut to him in the hospital bed, post-surgery, saying “I can’t feel my leg.” There are shots of him walking through events in a boot, navigating the practice facility on a walker, and a close look at a three-to-four inch scar at the bottom of his right leg.
It ends with the line, “The only thing worse than not being able to walk is coming back and not being Jayson Tatum.”
Here’s the full trailer.
Tatum has been noncommittal about his return because there are still things that can go wrong along the way. However, there are signs all over the place that he’s planning to come back. NBC announced it’s releasing this docuseries over the next couple of weeks after flexing the March 1 Celtics-Sixers game into the prime time NBC slot, which is leading to a lot of speculation that it’s Tatum’s targeted return date.
Whenever he does come back, it will be the result of a very long rehab process.
"Mentally it's been tough. It's been exhausting,” Tatum told reporters about his rehab last week. “It's been a lot of different phases throughout this process. But the organization has been there to support me, friends, family, the whole nine. I’ve had a lot of support throughout this.""Mentally it's been tough. It's been exhausting. I can't stress it enough, it's been 39 weeks. It's been a lot of different phases throughout this process. But the organization has been there to support me, friends, family, the whole nine. I’ve had a lot of support throughout this."