The Boston Celtics will kick off another week without Jayson Tatum when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.
While Tatum hasn't played since last May due to an Achilles injury, he's reportedly getting closer to a return. The Ringer's Bill Simmons predicted on Monday that Tatum may make his season debut against the Dallas Mavericks at home on Friday.
If he does, that would give him 20 regular-season games over the next six weeks to ramp up before the playoffs.
Will Tatum be up to the task? Simmons' colleague, NBA analyst Zach Lowe, laid out some potential return scenarios for Tatum on Monday's episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast."
New BS Podcast w/ @ZachLowe_NBA
—The Queta Game plus Tatum’s looming (now what?)
—OKC turns heel
—Thompson v Thompson
—The goofy 7-8-9-10 East/West races
—Are we sure Steph is coming back?
—Deep Dive: Here comes Charlotte!!!
Spotify (or Netflix) ⬇️https://t.co/KJzuMZ0l46
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 2, 2026
"Ceiling is he comes back, gets 10 to 12 games under his belt in the regular season so the playoffs are not 0 to 100 right away," Lowe said. "Minutes-wise...let's say 20 to 25 minutes, not quite role player but not Jayson Tatum...and that just makes your team better...I just see no downside to it at all for them."
Lowe acknowledged that although the Celtics have been phenomenal without Tatum this year, he could still give them a scoring spark and make their offense more dangerous, especially during minutes when Jaylen Brown is on the bench.
He expects Tatum's return to eat into the playing time of Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh and Sam Hauser, whereas Simmons believes Tatum will replace Baylor Scheierman's minutes.
Either way, someone will have to sacrifice if or when Tatum returns. It could be worth it for one of the best players in the league, however, especially if Boston wants to compete for a championship this spring.
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